ATLANTA (Jan. 8) ? Georgia State won its CAA home opener and upped its season home record to 6-0 with a 71-51 victory over Northeastern on Thursday night at the Sports Arena.
The Panthers defense forced 20 turnovers and limited Northeastern to 34 percent shooting as they kept their sixth straight opponent at home under 60 points.
Georgia State (8-4, 1-1) used a pair of 8-0 runs to its advantage. They started the game with the first 8-0 run in building a 30-22 halftime lead. Then, they started the second half with another 8-0 run to build a 38-22 advantage. The closest Northeastern could ever get was 14 points at 9:18, while Georgia State twice had 22-point leads for its largest leads.
Junior forward Danyiell McKeller poured in 23 points in just 30 minutes, despite a migrane headache that slowed her a bit. Junior guard Brittany Graham provided outside punch with four 3-point baskets and 12 points, while Jylisa Williams added 11 more points. Freshman point guard Crystal Johnson was effective with a personal-best 11 assists and six rebounds. Senior leader Brittany Holllins had six points, six assists and four steals in 26 minutes, despite a leg injury.
Northeastern had just one player in double figures in guard Jasmine Crew with 16 points. Kendra Walton led with eight rebounds and added eight points. The Huskies struggled outside the 3-point arc with four-of-23, but was a sharp 13-of-17 from the free throw line.
“Defensively, we got after them at the start and frustrated them tonight,” coach Lea Henry said. “We took them out of what they wanted to do and they struggled with their shooting. We had 26 assists tonight which means everyone was working together. We had toughness on defense and balance on offense tonight. Getting that first conference win is important and now we'll use this to get ready for Sunday's conference battle.”
Georgia State's 65 percent second-half shooting and 54.5 percent game shooting was a result of working the ball inside in the half-court game and using the transition game after turnovers.
Georgia State will try to grow the streak to seven-straight at home when it plays host to CAA rival Delaware on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. State was won seven of its last nine games overall.
NOTEBOOK: The 20-point win is Georgia State's third this year of 20 or more points and sixth win by 10 or more points...The Panthers have become a strong second-half team, outscoring 10 of the 12 opponents in the second half this year...McKeller's 23 points were one basket shy of her career best 25 last year and one point shy of her season-best of 24 points in the opening win at Clemson...Brittany Hollins moved into a tie for 7th all-time in CAA history in steals as her career total has climbed to 292 thefts with four more vs. Northeastern...With her 11 assists, Crystal Johnson moved into the CAA lead with her 5.6 assists per game season average...The Panthers continue to lead the CAA in Steals (14.1 per game), Turnover Margin (+8.8), and Assist Turnover ratio. State moved up to No. 2 in Assists (16.1) and No. 4 in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
