CLEVELAND – Mikyla Tolivert scored a career-high 22 points and Georgia State used a strong second half to bash St. Bonaventure 66-51 in their second game of the Hampton Inn Cleveland Downtown Viking Invitational.
Tolivert's 22 points topped her previous high of 19 set on November 15 at Florida A&M. The sophomore from Melbourne, Fla. shot 7-of-14 from the field with seven rebounds and made all seven of her free throw attempts.
Deasia Merrill notched her second career double-double with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and a career-high 13 rebounds. The redshirt-junior from Villa Rica scored nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter and has now reached double-digits in each of her last three games.
Georgia State outscored St. Bonaventure 36-20 in the second half to pull away late. The Panthers outrebounded the Bonnies 39-27 and held them to 16-of-45 (35.6 percent) shooting. GSU has now held their opponents to under 36 percent shooting in six of their seven games this season. Their 33 percent field goal percentage defense entering the contest ranks 24th in the NCAA.
GSU trailed by one with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter when the Panthers went on a 9-2 run to take a 45-39 lead. A layup by the Bonnies cut the lead to four before Tolivert hit a jump shot and nailed two free throws to put Georgia State up by eight.
The Panthers led 49-42 at the start of the fourth when a jump shot by Alyssa Phillip put Georgia State up by nine. St. Bonaventure then made 1-of-2 free throws before
Deasia Merrill pushed the lead to 11 with a free throw and a layup as GSU used an 11-3 run to put the game out of reach. The Panthers led by as many as 17 in the fourth and held the Bonnies without a field goal for 6:17 in the quarter.
St. Bonaventure scored the game's first five points before Georgia State scored 18 of the next 22 to take a 18-9 lead heading into the second. But GSU trailed by one at halftime after the Bonnies used a 14-2 run in the second to outscore them 22-12.
GSU will be in action again tomorrow for the conclusion of the Viking Invitational, facing Bellarmine at 1 p.m.
