JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Georgia State defeated North Florida 72-59 in the season opener Saturday night. The visiting Panthers forced 28 turnovers and made 18 steals, while holding the host Ospreys to 38 percent shooting.

Senior guard Kayla Nolan and senior center Brittany Logan led the Panthers as each scored 15 points, while Logan added nine rebounds and Nolan added five steals. Point guard Alisha Andrews added 11 points, three steals and three assists.

How did the defense help:

• Georgia State jumped out quickly to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes, thanks to a pair of steals. 
• The Panthers increased that lead to 11-2 at 15:50 with another steal that helped to a lay-up and 5-of-7 shooting to start the game.
• In the first half, GSU had seven steals, forcing 13 turnovers, in building a 36-26 halftime lead.
• The Panthers made seven steals in the final eight minutes of the game to thwart every UNF comeback attempt.
• A huge stat and factor in the win for Georgia State was scoring 34 points off UNF turnovers.

Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener was pleased to open on the road with a win:

• "The players came out on first and made good things happen at the beginning and that set the tone."
• "Alisha Andrews was great of defense and affected what UNF was trying to do. She handled the team on both ends of the court tonight and kept things flowing."
• "We played a lot of people and many of them made big plays at big times."
• "It is hard to win on the road anytime, so starting the year with a road win feels good right now. But, we have a lot of things to work on."

Coach was referring to the 12 players who scored, the 10 who had a rebound, the seven who had an assist and the six who had two or more steals.

The closest UNF got in the second half was four points, but GSU always responded. When the Ospreys closed to five with 6:33 left (59-54), Georgia State went on a 6-0 burst to get the lead back into double figures at 4:55 (65-54) and the lead never came back under double digits.

What did senior point guard Alisha Andrews think about the opener?

• "It was all about our defense tonight on the road. In practice, coach tells us to pick up the defense and we work hard on it."
• "Yes, as a senior point guard I feel like this is really my team to lead now. Leadership starts in practice and I try to keep everyone going hard there."
• "I keep telling coach that no one has the team chemistry we have and we play together as a team."

 UNF ended up with a 50-39 rebound advantage, but Georgia State got off 12 more shots than UNF (69-57) and shot more free throws (26-21). In lieu of more rebounds, GSU just took the ball away before UNF could shoot.

Georgia State will play its home opener in Atlanta on Monday, Nov. 24 against Thomas College.