Panthers Host South Alabama Thursday

Coming off buzzer-beating win over Georgia Southern

GEORGIA STATE (7-9, 1-3 SBC) vs. SOUTH ALABAMA (8-9, 2-2 SBC)
Jan. 27 • 6 p.m. • GSU Sports Arena

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

THE TIPOFF

• Coming off a thrilling, last-second win over rival Georgia Southern, Georgia State (7-9, 1-3 Sun Belt) hosts South Alabama (8-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) Thursday at the GSU Sports Arena. The game tips at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

• Last Saturday against Georgia Southern, Georgia State led the entire way until a 3-pointer by the Eagles tied game at 56-all with 26 seconds left. With the clock running down, Georgia State point guard Tehya Lyons found Kamryn Dziak in the corner. Dziak missed the 3-pointer, but Deasia Merrill ripped the rebound away from Georgia Southern's Mya Burns, and her short jumper from the baseline was good, giving the Panthers the 58-56 victory.

• The matchup with South Alabama is the fourth of five straight home games for the Panthers, who conclude this stretch by hosting Troy Saturday at 2 p.m. GSU will play its first road game since Jan. 8 on Feb. 5 at Georgia Southern. The Panthers then return home for games against Coastal Carolina (Feb. 10) and Appalachian State (Feb. 12), giving them seven out of eight games at the GSU Sports Arena.

• Ashley Foster leads GSU in scoring at 11.6 ppg, and she is second on the team in rebounding (4.0), assists (26) and steals (22). She scored a career-high 19 points at Florida to open the season and has reached double figures in eight games, including a 17-point performance vs. Florida A&M and a 16-point outing in the win over Georgia Southern.

• Kamryn Dziak hit three 3-pointers in the win over Georgia Southern. She leads the team with 28 treys this season and has 91 for her career. She is second in the Sun Belt with 1.75 treys per game.

• Freshman Nyla Jean is averaging 9.8 ppg in Sun Belt contests. She contributed 11 points, four rebounds and three steals vs. Coastal Carolina, followed by 12 points and four boards vs. UTA, and then a career-high 13 points vs. Texas State, when she was 3-for-3 from 3-point range.

• Moriah Taylor has come off the bench to hit 10-of-14 3-pointers over the last six games.

• Georgia State has already used nine different starting lineups, with 10 different players starting at least one game. No Panther has started every games, and only three (Kamryn Dziak, Alyssa Phillip, Moriah Taylor) have played in every game.

SERIES NOTES vs. SOUTH ALABAMA

• Georgia State won three out of four games against the Jaguars last season. The teams split a pair of games in Mobile and then the Panthers swept two games at the GSU Sports Arena, winning 60-45 and 76-64.

• South Alabama leads the series 12-9, including a 10-7 advantage since the teams began playing as Sun Belt foes in 2013-14.

• At the GSU Sports Arena, the series is tied at 5-5.

• Head coach Gene Hill is 3-4 vs. South Alabama.

HITTING THE BOOKS

• Georgia State enjoyed a very strong fall semester in the classroom, compiling a team grade point average of 3.42.

• Thirteen women's basketball student-athletes earned academic honors for the fall with a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher.

• Kamryn Dziak and Hannah Sadler achieved the President's List, Georgia State's highest academic distinction signifying a semester GPA of 4.0 or higher.

• Dean's List (3.5-3.99 GPA): Elexus Bell, Ashley Foster, Ciara Smith, Mikyla Tolivert

• Athletic Director's Honor Roll (3.0-3.49 GPA): Jenae Dublin, Alex Gitchenko, Taylor Henderson, Tehya Lyons, Alyssa Phillip, Moriah Taylor, Taniyah Worth.

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 Kam Dziak (5.0 ppg, 30 3FG made).

• Georgia State is coming off one of its 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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