Photo By Rashad Milligan | The Signal
The Georgia State women’s basketball team (4-7) loss to the Elon Phoenix (7-4) 84-67 in the last game of GSU Holiday Classic. Freshman guard Jada Lewis led all scorers with 21 points and freshman center Shaquanda Miller-McCray set new career-highs with 7 points and 6 rebounds in the first half.
“I thought she did a really good job,” Georgia State Women’s Basketball Head Coach Sherwin Baldwin-Tener said of Miller-McCray’s performance. “In practice, she’s really been coming on. She’s getting a little bit more physical, a little bit more active and doing some things. So I was pleased with the way she played and I was going to give her an opportunity because the way she’s played the last three weeks in practice.”
Junior guard Makeba Ponder finished the game with 13 points, shooting 4-for-13 from three-point range and she also received tournament honors for her play during the GSU Holiday Classic. Ponder had 15 points in the Classic’s opener against Akron. Sophomore forward K.K. Williams had a solid all-around performance, finishing with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists.
Although the Panthers are now three games below .500, the promise of the young core is evident and there are still three months left before postseason play.
“We’re a little bit short handed,” Coach Baldwin-Tener said. “Obviously we’ve got some injuries and some people out, missing some holes. So when we get a couple other players back, I think that we’re going to be a lot deeper and be ready for conference.”
The first Sun Belt match-up for the Panthers will be on Dec. 31 in Statesboro to face Georgia Southern.
