ATLANTA - Georgia State's season-opener saw the Panthers bow to Georgia Tech, 66-56, in the 34th meeting of the two downtown schools Friday evening at Alexander Memorial Coliseum before 1,930 on the campus of Tech.
Georgia State trailed 35-20 at the break, but rallied to outscore the host Yellow Jackets, 36-31, in the second half. The key stretch of the game came in the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Tech held a 27-18 nine-point advantage with 3:54 in the half when they went on a 8-2 run to take the 35-20 halftime lead. They came out with a 9-2 start in the second half to open a 44-22 advantage at 16:32 that State whittled away at from that point on.
Perhaps the key stat of the game was GSU's 30 turnovers, 21 in the first half, that hindered the offensive production. Tech had 21 turnovers. Georgia State held a 37-34 rebounding advantage against the taller Yellow Jackets and blocked seven shots. Tech got to the free throw line 14 times, while GSU never saw the line until 6:34 left in the game and ended with three attempts. GSU shot 45.5% with five treys, while Tech shot 44.4% with three treys. Tech had 15 steals on defense, State had 12 steals.
Junior forward Chan Harris led GSU with 15 rebounds and 12 points and three blocks. Freshman guard Kendra Long made her first game in the blue and white memorable coming off the bench with 13 points, 10 in the second half, with three-of-six made outside the arc. Senior wing Angelique Burtts netted 12 points. Sophomore center Cody Paulk had eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
Georgia Tech was led by guard Tyaunna Marshall's 18 points, Metra Walthour's 15 points and Alex Montgomery's 13 points.
"I guess the positive in a loss is that we kept fighting until the end and we executed a whole lot better in the second half," said new head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener.
"We turned the ball over way too much, especially in the first half, and we will continue to concentrate on taking care of the ball. Those turnovers cost us a ton of possessions with no shot attempted and limited our chances to score.
"Chan did a great job for us and we need to find ways to get her the ball more. They were a lot bigger and it was good that we fought to get more rebounds, but we will work on getting tougher down low, too.
Georgia State will practice for nine days and return to action on Nov. 21 at Stetson.
