STATESBORO - Georgia Southern women's basketball opened action in the GATA Turkey Throwdown on Friday with an 85-75 win over North Florida at Hanner Fieldhouse.
The Eagles (4-2) picked up its first win over the Ospreys (1-5) as North Florida was making its first regular season trip to Statesboro. In Friday's other game of the GATA Turkey Throwdown, Detroit Mercy defeated USC Upstate, 71-64.
Georgia Southern jumped out to an 8-0 lead on the Ospreys, but North Florida hit 3-of-6 three-pointers in the first frame to come back and take a 23-18 lead at the end of the period.
The Eagles used a 15-5 run midway through the second quarter to retake the lead and build a 38-34 lead at the break.
North Florida would close to within two on a couple of occasions in the third period, and trailed the Eagles by just three, 63-60, with 8:28 left in the ballgame. But a 9-2 run by Georgia Southern over the next three minutes build the Eagles' lead to double digits, and North Florida would be unable to get closer than five the rest of the way.
Georgia Southern placed four players in double figures, led by Terren Ward and Simone James, who had 19 points apiece. Ja'nya Love-Hill added 14 points while Eden Johnson chipped in 13. Kaila Rougier led a trio of Ospreys in double figures with her game-high 21 points. Lyric Swann and Sarah Taub each added 13 points.
Eagle of the Game
Johnson recorded her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs. It was her fifth career double-double for the Eagles and she also added a pair of blocked shots on the night.
Stat of the Game
Johnson and Ward (19 points, 11 rebounds) each had double-doubles on the day, the first time this season Georgia Southern has had a pair of double-doubles in the same game.
Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the win over the Ospreys
"I thought North Florida did a really good job of pushing the tempo. We always want to set the pace of play, but I thought they challenged our transition defense. We knew they wanted to shoot a bunch of threes - they average 30 attempts a game, at least kept them under that [26]. They shoot the ball really well and this was really good competition for us. We just have to get better in transition defense."
Coach Howard on the quick turnaround to face Detroit Mercy on Saturday
"Detroit has an inside presence, we played them before last year at their place. It was a tough game, and I expect tomorrow to be another tough battle. We had multiple people in double digits today, and we're going to need that in tomorrow's game for certain."
Next Up
The Eagles wrap up the GATA Turkey Throwdown on Saturday, hosting Detroit Mercy at 4:30 p.m. USC Upstate and North Florida will play the first game of the day at 2 p.m.