BOSTON, Mass (Feb. 21) - In a season where they have already lost two starters, it was another painful day for the Georgia State women's basketball team in a 50-40 loss at Northeastern.
Leading scorer Danyiell McKeller was lost less than two minutes into the game when she crumpled to the floor on a run-out transition fast break and went down clutching her hamstring. She left the gym on crutches to be examined further Monday back in Atlanta, Point guard Crystal Johnson had been running a fever yesterday and gamely tried to fight through her weakness, taking several rare breaks instead of going her full-out 40 minutes.
Junior Angelique Burtts led the team with 14 points while freshman post player Cody Paulk contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. Senior Shay Rawls led with 10 rebounds.
The Panthers came out charged up Sunday and were out to a quick 6-0 lead as they charged on without McKeller. Visiting GSU had grabbed a quick 11-4 lead at 12:14 with Burtts having seven of those 11. But three consecutive three-point baskets by the league's top three-point scoring club put host NU on top 13-11 at 9:37. GSU used its defense to try to account for the lack of offensive production from a scorer like McKeller who ranked in the top 25 in the nation this year (19 points a game). The visiting Panthers were trailing host Northeastern just 23-to-20 at the halftime break.
But, the key run came at the start of the second half when GSU could find the range on just one of its first 12 shots over the first eight minutes of the half and Northeastern was able to go on a 12-2 run to open a 35-22 advantage at 12:23.
The closest Georgia State could ever get again was eight points twice, at 46-38 with 1:45 left and 48-40 with 16 seconds in the game.
"We were in a tough situation today to lose Danyiell so early in the game, but we had our opportunities," Coach Lea Henry said. "I thought we missed way too many open shots, so not having Danyiell didn't make those shots not go in. We were spirited at the start of the game and played hard all game. But, we didn't have Danyiell's leadership and we just shot poorly when we had all those good looks."
Host Northeastern converted its average seven three-point baskets to provide the offensive spark. Forward Kim Carr scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to pace the Huskies. Northeastern also got 11 points from forward Kendra Walton and 10 points from guard Brittany Wilson.
Georgia State shot just 16-of-55 for the game (29%) and just 1-of-15 outside the three-point line. Northeastern's 42% second-half proved the difference as they hit just 30% for the overall game. GSU had one more field goal than Northeastern, but the Huskies hit 13-of-16 from the line to just 7-of-8 by GSU.
The Panthers return home for two CAA games this week, Thursday vs. Drexel and Sunday vs. George Mason.
