ATLANTA (Dec. 29) - Georgia State breezed to a 61-32 victory in the opening game of the 16th Annual Georgia State Invitational at the GSU Sports Arena. They will play the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), a 61-49 winner over Mississippi Valley State, in the 4 p.m. championship game. UT Martin and MVSU play at 2.
The Panthers (8-2) had its season-low defense and made this a fifth team held to 50 points or fewer points. Georgia State, who leads the CAA in almost every defensive category, forced 25 turnovers, made 13 steals, blocked 10 shots and held UT Martin to 27.9% from the field.
Senior forward Danyiell McKeller led the scoring with 19 points in her 28 minutes of action, with Shay Rawls adding 10 points and making six rebounds and blocking three shots. Angelique Burtts led the defense with four steals, while adding eight points and three assists.
UT Martin (1-9), who has lost three players to knee injuries this season, was led by nine points each from Paige Smith and Cali Cupples.
"The first game back after a break you have to work to get your timing back and it is good to get this win and move on to the championship game tomorrow," Coach Lea Henry said. "Our defense was aggressive and forced them to struggle against us today. Playing against the zone today slowed things down, so we want to play with better tempo tomorrow."
Coach Henry was pleased with the ball control that allowed just 10 turnovers, while allowing just five steals when they had the possession.
Georgia State opened the second half with a 17-7 run, sparked by McKeller, to get the margin from 30-18 at halftime to 47-25 with 10 minutes to play. The Panthers were able to get 61 minutes of the 200 in the game from the bench in this game. Seven players had a steal and five had a blocked shot. The Panthers shut down UT Martin with just 23% shooting in the second half.
The game began with McKeller hitting a pair of jumpers to get State started 4-0. A Weatherly three-point basket made it 4-3, but the host Panthers got two more baskets from McKeller and a two treys from Graham to open a quick 16-5 double-digit lead seven and a half minutes into the game. A trey by Cupples cut it to eight points before a lay-up by Rawls just under 10 minutes made it a double-digit lead that would stay from that point on. State's largest lead of the opening half was at 30-14 at 3:13 before the teams went to the halftime break at 30-18.
NOTEBOOK: The 8-2 start is the fourth best in school history with one 11-2 and a pair of 9-2 starts...The Panthesr have now won 48 straight games when holding the opponet to 50 points or fewer, including 5-0 this year...The 32 points allowed by State's defense is the best since Dec. 14, 2002 when they held Morris Brown to 30 points...The 32 scored by UT Martin is their season low as they scored 46 at Indiana and 47 at Kentucky, as well as 46 against Belmont and 42 against Morehead State...The 50% first half shooting marked the 11th half of the 20 halves this season that the Panthers hit 50% or better. They entered the game with a league-best 45.9% and shot 45.8 in today's win...The 10 blocked shots are a season high, with 3 each by Rawls and Graham and two from freshman Cody Paulk...Rawls played in her 100th game at State, while scoring her 500th point (507 career) to go with her 612 rebounds...McKeller's 19 points are one below her season average as she has enjoyed six previous 20-point games this year...The Panthers bench scored 18 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, blocked 4 shots and made 3 steals...State leads the CAA in assists per game (15.9) and had that today with 16 assists...The 29-point win equals the season-high of the 29-point win over Nicholls State, after beating Kennesaw State by 25 points and Delaware State by 24 points...Seven of the eight wins have been by 14 points or more with the two losses to Top 25 Florida State and Georgia Tech.
