ATLANTA - Shooting just 21% for the game, Georgia State lost to Western Carolina, 51-37, on Saturday evening at the GSU Sports Arena.

Playing without their injured leading scorer and rebounder, GSU still outshot visiting WCU, 57-41, but could make just 12 of those 57 shots. The Panthers shot 21.2% in the first half and then it actually got a little worse in the second half, making just 20.8% (5-of-24). Six-foot-two junior Chan Harris, who averages 14 points and 10.7 rebounds, while leading the conference in blocked shots, sat out with a foot injury.

Western Carolina knocked down 45% of its shots in the first half to open a 27-16 lead, and even though the Catamounts went almost the first six minutes of the second half without scoring, still kept a double-digit lead the whole second half.

Georgia State (3-4) got 11 points and eight rebounds from Angelique Burtts, but she shot just 2-of-16 from the field with 7-of-8 free throws. Sophomore center Cody Paulk added 10 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Western Carolina (2-6) got 12 points from Kaila'Shea Menendez, 11 points from Diamond Hunnicutt and 11 points from Emily Clarke. Caitlin Hollifield's 10 rebounds led them in that category.

Georgia State's defense forced 28 turnovers and had 13 steals to give themselves a chance today, but the cold shooting hurt that effort.

"My goodness, we took bad shots today and struggled on offense from start to finish," coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. "I know having Chan out threw us off a little, but we have got to execute much better than we did today. And, we are capable of that so we will work our way back from this."

Georgia State, coming back from a nine-day layoff for final exams, will return to action Thursday night when Jacksonville State visits the Sports Arena.