ATLANTA – Georgia State gave away a nine-point lead with eight minutes to play as visiting UT Arlington rallied for a 45-39 win in a Sun Belt Conference women's basketball game in the GSU Sports Arena.
Host Georgia State (7-8, 2-4) was its own enemy at the beginning and the end of the game. The Panthers started the game shooting 0 for 17 over 10 minutes and 18 seconds, but then got hot and moved out to six-point first half leads and took a 19-17 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Georgia State used a 6-0 run to go up 25-18 at 16:42. When UT Arlington tied it at 25 at 12:47, GSU again went on 9-0 run to take a 34-25 with 8:26 to play. But, Georgia State went back into its self-destruct mode, making seven turnovers and missing seven shots in 14 possessions. UT Arlington, gained the lead at 37-35 at 3:29 and never lost it. The Panthers did not make a basket until 16 seconds remained in the game.
For the game, Georgia State shot just 23.6 percent, making only 13 of 55 shots and committing 21 turnovers. UT Arlington (9-6, 3-3) wasn't much better, shooting 34.8 percent on 16 of 46 shots. The Mavericks committed 23 turnovers themselves.
Georgia State was led by Brittany Logan with 12 points and 12 rebounds, even though she shot just 3 for 13. Freshman Makeba Ponder added nine points, while fellow freshman Kennesha Nichols added nine rebounds. The Panthers played without injured point guard Alisha Andrews and ill forward Ashanti Groover, who started the past two games.
UT Arlington got 14 points and 12 rebounds from 6-foot-5 center Rebekah Van Dijk. The Mavericks had a 22-16 second-half rebound advantage to finish with a slim 40-38 game advantage.
“We weren't able to put the ball in the basket tonight and that's the object,” coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener noted of the 39 points, just a few days after scoring 86 points in the last game. “We had pretty good energy and played some good defense at times. We really struggled with our shooting and really played poorly at the end of the game.”
Georgia State moves on to a two-game road trip Saturday and Monday at Appalachian State and Arkansas State.
