Panthers Host UTA Thursday to Open 5-Game Homestand

GEORGIA STATE (6-7, 0-1 SBC) vs. UT ARLINGTON (8-4, 2-1 SBC)
Jan. 13 • 6 p.m. • GSU Sports Arena

COVERAGE: ESPN+
TICKETS: GeorgiaStateSports.com/Tix | 404-413-4020

THE TIPOFF
• Georgia State (6-7, 0-1 Sun Belt) begins a five-game homestand by hosting Sun Belt Conference leader weekend UT Arlington Thursday. The game tips at 6 p.m. ET at the GSU Sports Arena and will air on ESPN+.

• The matchup with UTA is the first of five straight home games for the Panthers, who host Texas State Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by Georgia Southern (Jan. 22), South Alabama (Jan. 27) and Troy (Jan. 29). GSU will not play another road game until Feb. 5 at Georgia Southern.

• Georgia State opened Sun Belt play with a 75-51 loss at Coastal Carolina last Saturday. The short-handed Panthers played without their top four scorers--Ashley Foster, Taylor Henderson, Taniyah Worth and Elexus Bell--but trailed by just four points after three quarters before Coastal Carolina pulled away in the fourth quarter.

• Freshman Nyla Jean stepped into the starting lineup vs. Coastal Carolina and contributed 11 points, four rebounds and three steals, and freshman Alex Gitchenko scored a career-high seven points along with four rebounds and two assists.

• Moriah Taylor, who scored nine points vs. the Chanticleers, is averaging 8.7 ppg over the last three games, in which she has hit 8-of-12 from 3-point range.

• Ashley Foster, who was unavailable vs. Coastal Carolina, leads GSU in scoring at 11.3 ppg. She scored a career-high 19 points at Florida to open the season and has reached double figures in seven games, including a 17-point performance vs. Florida A&M.

• Georgia State has already used seven different starting lineups. No Panther has started all 13 games, and only three (Kamryn Dziak, Alyssa Phillip, Moriah Taylor) have played in all 13.

• UTA (8-4, 2-1 Sun Belt) features the No. 2 scorer in the conference in Starr Jacobs at 19.2 ppg.

SERIES NOTES vs. UT ARLINGTON
• Georgia State and UT Arlington are meeting for the first time since Feb. 27, 2020, when the Lady Mavs earned a 66-50 win in Arlington.

• UTA is playing in Atlanta for the first time since Jan. 3, 2019. Georgia State won that contest 50-48 at the GSU Sports Arena in head coach Gene Hill's first Sun Belt Conference game. That was also the Panthers' last win in the series.

• Hill is 1-2 vs. UTA.

• UT Arlington holds a 9-3 lead in the overall series, which began in 2013-14 when both teams joined the Sun Belt. The Lady Mavs are 4-2 at the GSU Sports Arena.

MORE ON THE PANTHERS
• The Panthers return five players who started 10 or more games last season. The key returners for GSU include Taniyah Worth (8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Hannah Sadler (8.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg), Tehya Lyons (6.1 ppg, 46 assists), and Kamryn Dziak (5.0 ppg, 30 3FG made).

• Georgia State is coming off one ots most successful Sun Belt seasons in 2020-21. Posting a 9-7 record, the Panthers earned the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt East Division, GSU's first No. 2 conference seed since 2001 in the Atlantic Sun. The Panthers' nine Sun Belt wins are their second-most since joining the league in 2013-14, bettered only by 11 victories in 2018-19 in Gene Hill's first season at the helm.

• The Panthers recorded winning seasons in two of the last three years under head coach Gene Hill, including a 13-11 mark in 2020-21.

• GSU returns 10 players overall and welcomes five newcomers. Head coach Gene Hill, in his fourth season, also welcomed a new assistant coach in the offseason, Roddreka Rogers.

• Of the 15 Panthers on this year's roster, eight are from Georgia, two from Alabama, two from Florida, one from Maryland, one from Ohio, and one from Israel.

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