STATESBORO, GA – Nicole Newton scored a career-high 24 points to lead Georgia Southern to a 74-63 victory over UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Monday afternoon at Tanner Fieldhouse.
Sophomore guard Kristen Boone did everything she could to keep UNCG (5-8, 1-3 SoCon) in the game with a career-best 25 points and tied her career-high with eight steals. She also went 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Meghan Chamberlain added 11 points for the Spartans.
Along with Newton’s 24 points and 10 rebounds, Lee Dubose tossed in 12 points and Shawnda Atwood pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
The duo of Newton and Dubose accounted for the Lady Eagles (6-8, 3-2 SoCon) first 16 points of the second half in giving the home team a 56-44 cushion at the 10:43 mark. Newton scored the first six points, before Dubose drained back-to-back 3-pointers.
The lead expanded to as much as 16 points for GSU on a layup by Ashley Melton with 7:11 to go. UNCG’s Ashley Current would later connect on consecutive jumpers to pull the Spartans to within 10, 69-59, at the 2:15 mark.
The combination of Georgia Southern’s hot shooting and two quick fouls by Boone gave the Lady Eagles a 17-6 lead by the 15:29 mark of the first half. GSU’s lead ballooned to 25-8 with 12:13 showing on the clock as Newton scored 12 early points, including three straight buckets at one point, and the Lady Eagles were connecting at a 71.4 (10-for-14) percent clip from the field.
Boone re-entered the game and turned her defense into instant offense. The Upper Marlboro, MD native had five steals and scored 13 points in a four minute span to get UNCG back to within striking distance at 29-23 with 7:03 remaining in the opening stanza.
Byrd connected on the Spartans only 3-pointer of the game to close the gap to 31-26 with 5:17 to go. But that was the closest UNCG would get as the Lady Eagles scored nine of the final 12 points of the half to take a 40-29 lead into halftime.
GSU entered the game shooting only 61.7 percent from the free throw line for the season, but connected on 11-of-12 attempts in the first 20 minutes on Monday. Newton led the Lady Eagles with 14 points, while Boone had 13 points in the first half for the Spartans.
UNCG’s Jasmine Byrd and Irene Otamiri, who combine to average almost 17 points per game, were held to only seven points on 2-of-14 shooting.
UNCG returns home to host league foe Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at 2 pm. Meanwhile, Georgia Southern visits SoCon rival Davidson on Saturday at 2 pm.
GAME NOTES: Boone tied her career-high with eight steals last season at Georgia Southern... The Lady Eagles also topped the Spartans in the SoCon Tournament last season... A game after owning a dominating 50-28 advantage on the boards over Furman, GSU held a similar 51-31 rebounding cushion on Monday... UNCG held a 31-15 lead in points of turnovers... UNCG’s only lead of the game was 2-0 after a layup by KaLeah Latham.
AGATE
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 74, UNC GREENSBORO 63
UNC GREENSBORO (5-8, 1-3 SoCon)
BOONE, Kristen 8-12 9-9 25; CHAMBERLAIN, Meghan 4-7 3-4 11;
CURRENT, Ashley 3-4 2-2 8; LATHAM, KaLeah 3-7 1-2 7; BYRD, Jasmine
1-9 2-2 5; GRIMSLEY, Gini 2-7 0-0 4; OTAMIRI, Irene 1-5 0-2 2;
DIXON, Jasmine 0-2 1-2 1; BLAIR, Caroline 0-1 0-0 0; MULLINS,
Ashley 0-1 0-0 0; BROOKS, Kemena 0-2 0-0 0; LING, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0;
JACKSON, Shanika 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 18-23 63.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN (6-8, 3-2 SoCon)
NEWTON, Nicole 12-18 0-1 24; DUBOSE, Lee 4-8 1-3 12; MELSON, Ashley
3-7 3-4 9; HENRY, Concella 3-8 2-2 8; ATWOOD, Shawnda 3-11 0-0 6;
WATERMAN, Christa 0-5 5-6 5; RIVENS, Ashley 0-3 4-4 4; JESSIE,
Chequilla 1-2 1-2 3; SPOON, Leslie 1-2 0-0 2; DALEY, Nya 0-1 1-2 1.
Totals 27-65 17-24 74.
Halftime: Georgia Southern 40-29. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 1-17 (BYRD, Jasmine 1-7; LATHAM, KaLeah 0-1; GRIMSLEY, Gini 0-3; OTAMIRI, Irene 0-2; MULLINS, Ashley 0-1; BROOKS, Kemena 0-2; BOONE, Kristen 0-1), Georgia Southern 3-10 (DUBOSE, Lee 3-5; MELSON, Ashley 0-2; RIVENS, Ashley 0-2; DALEY, Nya 0-1). Fouled out--UNC Greensboro-None, Georgia Southern-None. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 31 (OTAMIRI, Irene 8), Georgia Southern 51 (ATWOOD, Shawnda 13). Assists-UNC Greensboro 5 (BOONE, Kristen 2), Georgia Southern 5 (NEWTON, Nicole 2; ATWOOD, Shawnda 2). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 19, Georgia Southern 17. A-793.
- UNCG -