It was all Panthers on Monday night at the Sports Arena as Georgia State women’s basketball claimed a dominant victory over the Thomas Lady Nighthawks by a final of 101˗55 in the team’s regular season home opener. The Panthers’ upped their record to 2˗0 on the young season.
Prior to the game, senior guard Alisha Andrews was honored for passing the 1,000 point plateau last season. Andrews scored her 1,000th point in a game against Western Carolina in March of last year.
A layup from Kayla Nolan placed the Panthers on the board first for an early 2˗0 lead before Jessica Andrews evened the score at 2˗2. Georgia State’s advantage would grow to 6˗3 before the Lady Nighthawks trimmed their deficit to only 12˗11. Both defense and offense began clicking for the Panthers as they embarked on a 16˗5 run to expand their advantage to 27˗16.
This would not be the only long scoring run Georgia State would go on. The score would be 35˗22 prior to 10 consecutive Panthers points to up their lead to 45˗22.
The game would be at 52˗27 reaching the halftime period. Nolan led the Georgia State offensive attack with 10 points.
A three from Andrews would result in Georgia State’s first points of the second half to up the score to 55˗27.
That lead would only increase and increase as the game went on. Georgia State would see leads of 62˗33 and 72˗42. The 30˗point advantage would be with five minutes left to play.
The Panthers were not only cruising to an emphatic win but getting closer and closer to possibly scoring over 100 points. The 30˗point lead would become 35 with a layup from Brittany Logan and a three˗pointer courtesy of Gaby Moss.
This one was well out of reach for Thomas, and the Panthers continued to pour on the offense. With the lead at 86˗53, it became 40 at 97˗55 with an 11˗2 run with all 11 Georgia State points coming courtesy of Makeba Ponder.
With a second to play in the game, the Panthers passed the century mark with a layup from Ashanti Groover. One second later, it was officially in the books as Georgia State had notched a dominant victory to up their record 2˗0.
Georgia State will take to the court Friday against Samford at 4:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
Georgia State stats
· Ponder: 16 points, 5˗9 shooting, 4˗4 free throws
· Andrews: 13 points, 5˗8 shooting, 2˗3 free throws
Thomas stats
· Courtney Saunds: 21 points, 6˗16 shooting, 3˗6 three pointers
· Laura Cherranfant: six points, 3˗7 shooting
Georgia State will take to the court Friday against Samford at 4:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
