ATLANTA – First-place VCU remained unbeaten in the CAA with a hard-fought 76-60 win over Thursday night at the GSU Sports Arena.

The Rams overcame an early Georgia State lead and gained a 37-26 halftime advantage by knocking down five-of-eight three pointers. VCU then held off multiple second-half Georgia State charges that cut the deficit to six points twice early in the second half (47-41, 12:24). State mounted its final comeback to come within seven points twice more, the last with 2:13 left at 65-58. But, VCU closed with its seventh and eighth treys of the game in the final 1:45 to secure the win.

Georgia State (10-5, 1-3) did a lot of their damage to themselves with 22 turnovers, high for a team ranked as the 48th best in fewest turnovers this year. The Panthers got 20 points off the bench from sophomore guard Jylisa Williams (8-10 field goals), plus 14 points and seven rebounds from Danyiell McKeller and 12 points from Shay Rawls.

VCU (11-5, 4-0) was led in scoring by senior forward D'Andra Moss with 27 points and 3-of-5 treys, while senior guard Kita Waller added 19 points and five assists.

Both teams shot well with Georgia State hitting 53.3% and VCU 52% for the game. Georgia State held a 27-22 rebounding advantage.

“VCU is an experienced, physical and very good team,” Coach Lea Henry said post-game. “VCU hit those big shots in the first half to get control and erase our lead. We didn't play as well as we would have liked, but the spirit is there and we can fix a lot of our mistakes and play smarter basketball than we did tonight.”

The host Panthers had started strong and built an early 14-9 lead eight minutes into the game. But, a Jennifer Lane three-point basket, a Moss trey and a Robyn Hobson trey sparked a 13-1 VCU run that opened a 22-15 lead with 7:50 to play. It was 27-20 when Ebony Patterson became the fourth Ram to hit a trey in their first-half run. From 10:45 to 4:28, VCU made eight straight baskets without a miss in taking the 37-26 halftime lead.

VCU led 41-28 with 18:32 in the second half when Georgia State got a surge led by McKeller and Williams to cut the margin down to 45-39 with 13:37 to go. When it was 47-41, VCU got nine straight points over the next four minutes to build it to a game-high 15 points at 56-41 after a trey by Waller at 8:52. At 62-47, Georgia State surged back once again with a 9-1 run led by Crystal Johnson and McKeller to make it 63-56 with 3:00 on the clock. A pair of Lane free throws for VCU were followed by a jumped by Williams to keep it at 65-58 as the teams headed into the final two minutes.

Georgia State stays home to play host to CAA rival Towson on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

NOTEBOOK: The 20 points by sophomore Jylisa Williams are the second most in her GSU career, three shy of her 23 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, but her most-ever in a CAA game...The win by VCU is a ninth straight over the Panthers since joining the CAA, as the Panthers have yet to beat them as a league rival...The Panthers did not make a three-point basket tonight, but attempted just three, one each by Burtts, Haltiwanger and Graham...The Panthers, who led the CAA in steals, could manage just six tonight...Georgia State leads the CAA in field goal percentage and will up that after tonight with their fourth game of the season shooting better than 50%...Crystal Johnson, who leads the CAA in assists (5.4), added seven more this evening.