ATLANTA (Jan. 23) - Georgia State and Delaware swapped the lead six times, were tied three times and it was still a one-point game several times in the final two minutes before the visiting Blue Hens edged away with free throws for a 50-46 Colonial Athletic Association win Sunday afternoon at the GSU Sports Arena.
Leading 47-46, Delaware's Danielle Parker cashed in on a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 17.3 seconds to put UD up 49-46 as GSU's final three-point attempt then bounced off the rim with one-second left on the clock. UD added a final free throw for its win.
Georgia State (7-11, 2-5) had led at the half, 24-21, and the first 11 minutes of the second half before a trey by Delaware's Lauren Carra at 8:40 edged the Blue Hens back into the lead, 38-36, for the first time since 2:32 in the first half at 18-17.
Carra led Delaware (11-7, 4-3) with 16 points as their only double-figure scorer. GSU was led by Tiffany Anderson, who fouled out in the closing minutes on an offensive foul making a pass, with 10 points. Angelique Burtts had 11 points, but was just 4-of-16 from the field. Chan Harris led GSU with nine rebounds, while adding eight points.
Over the final six minutes, the Delaware lead was at one-point and GSU had four different possessions with a chance to re-gain the lead, but could never capitalize.
Down 45-44 in the final two minutes, GSU's Tiffany Anderson was called for a key offensive foul under the basket making a pass and fouled out of the game with 1:13. Two free throws by Jocelyn Bailey put UD up 47-44 at 46 seconds, but Burtts answered that with a basket with 22 seconds. That set up Parker's eventual one-and-one free throw situation.
Both teams struggled shooting today, with GSU 13-of-59 for 22 percent and Delaware 17-for-54 at 31 percent. GSU's more misses helped Delaware claim a 47-41 rebound advantage.
GSU shot well from the free throw line (17-for-22, 77.3%), but shot only two free throws over the final eight minutes, while Delaware hit 14-of-22 (63.6%) from the line with 12 free throws in that same eight-minute span, making eight of those 12.
“At first thought immediately after the game, it seemed we couldn't seem to get a call on either end of the court in the last five or six minutes that could have made the difference in the game, but I guess we should have made more of our easy baskets and it wouldn't have come down to that imbalance at the end,” said Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener on her post-game radio show.
“We missed a lot of easy shots, especially in the first half, and you have to shoot better than we did today to win,” Baldwin-Tener said. “We had chances to win today, we shot our free throws better and the defense fought hard, but we hurt ourselves by missing a lot of makeable shots.”
