Georgia Southern women's basketball pulled away from visiting Charleston Southern with a big fourth quarter to collect an 81-59 victory in front of 2,808 on Kids Field Trip Day at Hanner Fieldhouse on Thursday morning.
The Eagles (8-2) stretched their current win streak to six with the victory, while Charleston Southern fell to 2-8. The crowd of 2,808 primarily elementary and middle school kids from 17 Bulloch County and surrounding area schools was the second-largest crowd to watch a Georgia Southern women's basketball game in Hanner.
The Eagles and the Buccaneers were in a tight one after the first quarter with Georgia Southern holding a 19-18 edge. But a 9-2 run early in the second quarter helped the Eagles build a 10-point lead, 42-32, at the break.
Charleston Southern opened the second half on an 8-0 run to close the gap to just two, 42-40, with 7:27 left. The Eagles' Terren Ward and Constance Thomas each tallied six points to help the Eagles stretch that lead back to double digits late in the third, then Georgia Southern put the game away with a 23-9 fourth quarter.
Ward notched her sixth straight double-double with a game-high 25 points to go with 14 rebounds. She is the first Eagle with six straight double-doubles since Tracy Wilson had six straight double-doubles from January 5-19, 1991. Thomas added 21 points and Simone James chipped in 14. Charleston Southern was led by Catherine Alben's 17 points.
Eagle of the Game
Thomas notched her career high scoring effort by hitting 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including 1-of-2 three-pointers, while also adding 6-of-9 from the free throw line. She registered a game-high six assists against only one turnover, had two steals and finished the game +23.
Stat of the Game
The Eagles held Charleston Southern to just two field goals and 18.2% shooting from the floor (2-of-11) in the final quarter, forcing seven turnovers.
Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the energy from the crowd in today's Kids Field Trip Day win
"We needed the kiddies today. I appreciate every one of their spirits and souls cheering on the Eagles because we needed their energy to go along with our vitamin E. Their energy helped propel us in our fourth quarter run."
On the play of Constance Thomas and Torrion Starks at the point guard position
"I thought both of them did really well today handling the ball. Torrion had five assists, CeCe had six, and with Ja'nya [Love-Hill] out, we want someone to step up and handle the ball for us. CeCe did what I recruited her to do. I knew Constance could do that long before she showed that tonight but I'm glad we were able to awake that inside of her in this game."
Next Up
The Eagles will take part in the Coastal Empire Eagle Classic on Tuesday, December 19, at Enmarket Arena in Savannah. Georgia Southern hosts Hampton at 3 p.m., with the Georgia Southern men taking the floor afterwards against FGCU at 6 p.m.
