Baltimore, Md. (Sunday, Jan. 16) - Georgia State played tough defense and made some key plays down the stretch to post a 58-53 Colonial Athletic Association win over Towson.
In a game with 10 lead changes and six ties, visiting GSU forged ahead with 10:03 and kept the lead the rest of the way, despite Towson closing within one point two more times, the last with 55 seconds.
Chan Harris made a key basket with 31 seconds left to put GSU up, 55-52. After Simona Petronyte made a free throw with 6.2 seconds to make it 55-53, the second miss included a lane violation and gave the ball to GSU. A full-court pass to Angelique Burtts resulted in a basket and free throw with 4.2 seconds for the final margin.
GSU (7-9, 2-3) got the eighth double-double of the year from junior forward Chan Harris with 12 points and 12 rebounds, to go with two more blocked shots for the CAA leader. Sophomore guard Tiffany Anderson was a huge spark with 12 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 8:43 to play. Angelique Burtts added 11 more points and seven rebounds for GSU. Point guard Lanajia Ernest was 2-for-2 outside the three-point line today.
Georgia State shot 50% from the field (26-of-52), but just 4-of-13 from the free throw line. GSU held Towson to 17-of-56 (30.4%) as the Tigers converted 16-of-25 free throws. GSU held a 44-30 rebound advantage. Towson (7-9, 1-4) got 14 points and 11 rebounds from Dovile Miliauskaite and 12 points from Tanisha McTiller.
"I will take a road win any time, any way, any place," said head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener on her first CAA road win. "We persevered and played all the way to the finish. Missing our free throws kept it from maybe being a little easier. Maybe a road win like this will give us a little confidence later in the year."
"I wasn't happy at the halftime because we didn't play with as much effort for all 20 minutes and I let the team know that," Baldwin-Tener said. "And losing Tiffany Anderson so early in the game with five fouls was tough because she was the one playing hardest and leading the effort today."
Towson had rallied to edge ahead of Georgia State, 24-22, at halftime at the Towson Center.
The visiting Panthers made their first five shots of the game to open a 13-7 lead with just over five and a half minutes in the game. But, Towson had a 6-0 run to tie the game at 13 at 11:58.
GSU once again opened a pair of four-point leads at 21-17 (7:22) and 22-18 (5:16). But, once again Towson had a 6-0 over the final five minutes as GSU went scoreless to take their two-point halftime lead. There were three ties and three lead changes in the first half.
The Panthers, who have won two of their last three, return to Atlanta for a pair of games this week with a Thursday night CAA meeting with the Northeastern Huskies and a Sunday afternoon game with the Delaware Blue Hens.
