College of Charleston
Georgia Southern
Cougars Fall to Eagles, 64-47
1/19/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Tiffany Brown scored 14 points, all in the second half, to help the Eagles fend off several Cougar comeback attempts and lead Georgia Southern to the 64-47 win over the College of Charleston women's basketball team this afternoon at Hanner Fieldhouse.
Charleston drops its first game in five tries to go to 9-8 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference. Georgia Southern wins its fifth straight to go to 10-8 and 6-1 in the league.
The Cougars cut the margin to under five points on five occasions in the second half, but every time the Eagles had an answer. The last time was at the 7:23 mark. Down by six with 7:23 remaining Deidra Jones hit a jumper to cut the deficit to four, 46-42. Tiffany Brown made two free throws after a Cougar foul with 6:55 to go to take the lead back up to six. That would be as close as Charleston would get as GSU ended the game on an 18-5 run to take the 17-point, 64-47 win.
Charleston opened the first half on a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the game but Georgia Southern answered with an 18-0 run of its own to take the 18-7 lead with 11:14 left in the half. Erika Smith ended the Cougar drought with a jumper at the 9:18 mark. Down 24-9 with 5:22 before intermission, Charleston began its comeback, using a 14-4 run the remainder of the half to head into the locker room down by just five, 28-23. Charleston shot just 21.4 percent in the first half, compared to 42.9 for the Eagles.
Nikki Williams, who posted her fifth career double-double and fourth of the year, led the Cougar effort with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Smith followed with 11 points, while Jones had 10 on the afternoon. Following Brown in scoring for the Eagles was Jessica Geiger with 11 and Shawnda Atwood with 10. J'Lisia Ogburn had six rebounds to lead the team.
The Cougars shot a season-low 22.8 percent from the field, while the Eagles shot 41.2 percent. Brown was three-for-five from beyond the three-point arc to lead the Eagles in an eight-for18 effort. Charleston struggled in the game, going one-for-13. CofC held the rebounding advantage, 47-38, but of the Eagles' total 29 were from the defensive end.
Charleston is next in action when it travels to Chattanooga Saturday, Jan. 26th for a 5:00 p.m. game.
