Upper Marlboro, Md. - (March 8) - Georgia State bowed out of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament with a 66-59 loss to UNC Wilmington on Thursday afternoon at The Show Place Arena.
The 12th-seeded Panthers surprised fifth-seeded UNCW early, taking a seven-point lead through the first 12 minutes of the game with an 11-0 run before the higher-seed began its rally. UNCW went on a 21-9 over the final seven minutes of the first half to open a 30-23 halftime margin.
In the second half, Georgia State closed back to three points at 40-37 with 12:30 to go, but UNCW grew the lead to 10, its largest of the game at 8:00. GSU again closed back to five points, five more times over the next four minutes.
With 1:45 to play, GSU had cut the gap to 61-57 and then closed to three points at 62-59 with 40 seconds to play on a Chan Harris basket. UNCW's Abria Trice made two free throws with 33 seconds and then Karneshia Garrett hit two more with 20 seconds to enable UNCW to move on to the quarterfinals.
A difference-maker in the game was UNCW making seven three-point baskets in 17 attempts, while GSU tried four treys without success. UNCW also held a 51-38 rebound advantage that included 17 offensive rebounds.
The Panthers kept the game close with its defense early and late, forcing 19 turnovers, making eight steals and blocking four shots, while holding the Seahawks to 31 percent shooting in the first half and 33 percent for the game.
Georgia State (8-22) was led by senior forward Chan Harris with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Junior point guard Jerlisa Taylor added 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
UNCW (19-11) was topped by Abria Trice's 15 points and 3-of-6 three-point baskets. Garrett added 11 rebounds and eight points.
"It was a hard-fought game, but from our side, we just didn't make enough baskets and missed a whole lot of wide-open shots today," said Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener. "We came out ready to play and got the lead early with our defense, but our offense wasn't taking advantage of the defense stopping them. We played to win, but our glaring weakness is our jump shooting."
"UNCW made some key three-point baskets to open an advantage because we kept their overall shooting percentage real low in the area where you can usually win games," Baldwin-Tener added. "But, we didn't do a good job of boxing out and getting as many rebounds as we should have today."
"And, of course they made those final four free throws in the final minute when we had closed the gap back to three points," she concluded.
This loss to No. 83-RPI ranked UNCW finishes GSU with 16 of its 22 losses coming to teams in the Top 100 of the 343 Division I teams, including nine in the top 50, as the team was 8-6 against teams from the 100-to-343 rankings.
