Georgia State (4-1) used its full-court pressure defense to amass 13 steals, force 24  turnovers and block  five shots in the win over Presbyterian (0-9), a school that has played one of the toughest early-season schedules in the nation.

The Panthers were led by senior forward Danyiell McKeller, who scored 22 points, just above her 20.5 season average that ranks her in the top 25 in the nation. Junior guard Traci Haltiwanger played her first game of the season and knocked down three 3-point baskets, while junior wing Angelique Burtts added nine more points and five rebounds.

Presbyterian College was led by Amanda Mills, who scored 15 points, including 10-of-14 from the free throw line. Mariah Pietrowski added 13 more points for the Blue Hose.

Georgia State dominated early in rolling out to a 15-2 lead over the first 10 minutes of the game with McKeller scoring 12 of those 15 to go with a Haltiwanger trey. State built the lead to 22-5 at 4:26 and took a 25-11 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, visiting State applied more pressure and held a 43-23 lead with 10 minutes to play. The Panthers had their largest lead of the game at 53-26 with 6:50 to play and the reserves scored only five points the remainder of the game.

"We were a little out of synch with the early foul trouble on a couple starters and had players moving to different positions, but the positive is we got a lot of minutes from a lot of players to help us later," Coach Lea Henry said. "We didn't adjust to the calls and were too aggressive, but we got another road win, so we are happy. Their zone obviously kept the score down a little and we only had our good tempo during the first part of the second half."

Georgia State will take a short break for final exams and return to action next Saturday when it plays host to the Nicholls State Colonels at the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta.