ATLANTA (Jan. 17) – Georgia State outshot Towson from the free throw line to post a 71-62 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) win this afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.
Georgia State (11-5, 2-3) nailed 31-of-41 free throws (76%) while visiting Towson (8-8, 2-3) made just 21-of-38 (55%) of their charity tosses. The Panthers shot 20 free throws in the last 2:00 of the game as Towson kept fouling to try to close the deficit.
The Panthers improved to 7-3 at home and 2-1 in the CAA at home behind senior forward Danyiell McKeller's personal-best tying 26 points (9-of-15 FG) to go with eight rebounds and sophomore guard Jylisa Williams' 15 points. Point guard Crystal Johnson added 13 points and nine assists, while senior forward Shay Rawls led with 10 rebounds.
Towson's Shanae Baker-Brice, averaging 19.4 per game after 32 and 28 points in her last two outings hit just 5-of-26 shots today for 14 points. Forward Haliena Snowden led Towson with 17 points before fouling out. Kandace Davis led with14 rebounds while Katrina Wheeler added another 10 points.
“We watched extra tape this week to show the kids that winning attitude they had earlier and encouraged them to be mentally tougher,” Coach Lea Henry explained about career win No. 299. “I think we were focused and defended well most of the game. We held them to that 30% shooting with better effort than our last couple games.”
“Danyiell (McKeller) had another great game, especially with 19 in the first half,” Henry noted. “She stepped out of some double-teams and we played through their box-and-one defense on her. She had five steals on defense and was her usual poised self. She leads by her example on both ends of the court.”
Georgia State gained the lead at 6-5 and never lost it the rest of the game, but could never shake the pesky Tigers. With McKeller hot early, GSU opened up a 10-point lead at 22-12 with 9:23 in the first half. Four times the Panthers would gain an 11-point in the first-half, the last at 33-22 with 5:27, but Towson crept back to 37-30 at halftime.
The second half was more trading baskets than either team going on momentum runs as the lead varied between six and nine points through the first 18 minutes of the second half. Every time Towson could close it to six points, GSU would quickly answer with a basket on the other end.
Georgia State built the lead back up to 11 points with 1:33 left (59-48), but Towson would not quit after a three-point basket by Jaleesa Dryver and a three-point free throw sequence by Simona Petronyte after a foul shooting a trey closed the margin to 65-60 with 48.8 seconds. But, GSU kept making free throws and sealed the win.
The Panthers travel to CAA rival Old Dominion on Thursday and return home next Sunday to play host in a re-match with James Madison.
NOTEBOOK: McKeller's 26 points ties her best of 26 last year vs. Delaware State and tops her pair of 25-point games as she has had 15 games now of 20 or more points scored...McKeller's 5 steals today give her the team lead of 39 in that category as well...McKeller moved past Monica Thomas and Angelina Miller in carer points to move up to No. 15 with her 1,125 points...Jylisa Williams followed her 20-point game on Thursday with 15 more today. She has been solid from the free throw line with 25-of-32 (78%)...Brittany Grahm hit 2-of-4 treys to up her season total to 31-65 (47.7 to lead the CAA in percentage)...Johnson's nine assists today up her CAA-best average as she has 91 on the year 5.7 per game) as she seeks to repeat the as conference leader...Shay Rawls 10 rebounds mark her 20th career game in double-figure rebounding. Her career total of 660 leaves her just 48 from cracking the top 10 in school history...The win for Coach Henry was No. 299 of her career...The team upped its streak to 13-in-a-row and 5-0 this year when scoring 70 or more points...The aggressive defense added an 11th game with 10 or more steals with the 10 thefts today.
