UPPER MARLBORO, MD. (March 11) - After its opening day CAA Tournament win, Georgia State will now face the No. 1 seed, James Madison, in Friday's noon game.
The Panthers, winners of five of their last nine games, will face the Dukes of James Madison for the third time, with one battle going to the wire, the other a convincing win by JMU. GSU defeated George Mason, 68-64, on Thursday.
James Madison (23-7, 16-2) is led by All-America guard and CAA Player of the Year Dawn Evans. The 5-foot-9 guard is No. 2 in the nation in scoring (23.6) and has scored 2,589 career points. James Madison is ranked No. 6 in the nation in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major national poll. Six-foot-four center Lauren Jiminez is second-team All-CAA with her 14.4 points and 8.0 rebounds.
When asked at the CAA Press Conference how she planned to stop Evans in Friday's game, Coach Baldwin-Tener turned it back to the media: "It doesn't appear that myself or any of the CAA coaches have that answer, so if you have any ideas, please see me right after this press conference and I'll take your suggestions."
"But, let me tell you, James Madison is a lot more than just Dawn Evans," she continued. "They are well coached and have a lot of good ball players who know how to win.
"I will just ask my team to play with a lot of energy and effort and give it the best shot they can. They did that Thursday and that carried us to a win."
Georgia State was led yesterday by its only two seniors on the roster, Angelique Burtts and Traci Haltiwanger. But GSU can also count on third team All-CAA forward Chan Harris and All-CAA rookie team member Kendra Long. Sophomore center Cody Paulk has surged during the second half of the season and leads the CAA in blocked shots. Sophomore point guard Jerlisa Taylor leads the team in assists and stepped up to the free throw line late in yesterday's win to make two key shots in a one-and-one situation. Sophomore Tiffany Anderson also scored in double figures in Thursday's opening day win.
As always, the game will be broadcast live on WRAS-FM 88.5) radio with Drew Hinesley and former Panther star Kelcey Roegiers-Jensen. Click here for that link. Streaming video is available for purchase at CAASports.com.
The winner of this game will move on to Saturday's semi final game, also at noon, against the winner of the No. 4-5 seed game (Hofstra vs. VCU).
