ATLANTA – Visiting Arkansas State won its school-record 16th consecutive game by beating Georgia State 85-64 Saturday in the GSU Sports Arena.
The Red Wolves (22-3, 16-0) clinched a tie for the regular season title with four games to play behind their two preseason first-team picks. Preseason MVP Aundrea Gamble led the way with 31 points and 11 assists, just two points shy of her career best. Forward Khadija Haywood-Brown continued her stellar play with 20 points and 11 rebounds as she maintains her double-double season averages in the Sun Belt.
Georgia State (9-15, 4-11) was led by freshman point guard Madison Newby with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. Newby leads the Sun Belt with 125 assists. Forward Alaysia Mitchell added 10 points and six rebounds. GSU played all 13 players with 12 of them scoring and the 13th getting a rebound.
Arkansas State shot 52 percent outside the 3-point line on 12-of-23 shooting, while shooting 50 percent for the game.
Georgia State held a 44-34 rebound advantage, thanks to 23 offensive rebounds, but the Panthers had 21 turnovers to slow the offense.
The teams traded baskets at the start with ASU edging ahead 17-14 with 2:51 in the first quarter and built that to 24-15 at the end of the first period with its fourth 3-point basket.
By the second quarter, ASU had the lead into double figures and grew it to 19 points at 38-19 with 3:46. But, GSU went on a 9-0 burst to close to 38-28 with a minute left. The Red Wolves went into halftime with a 42-30 lead.
In the third quarter, ASU made four more 3-point baskets in a span of 2 minutes, 15 seconds to break the game wide open at 59-40 with 5:12 as it made 9 of 15 3-pointers at this point. By the end of the third quarter it was 67-45.
“Obviously, Arkansas State is a very good basketball team and they have so many weapons,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “They are a tough match-up for us, as well as most teams in the Sun Belt, and we couldn't slow Gamble down today. They certainly shot their 3-pointers well today. We did outrebound them, we did hustle for 23 offensive rebounds and we kept fighting.”
Georgia State will face a crucial schedule now in its final four games in an effort to earn one of the eight bids to the conference tournament. GSU faces a team it is tied with Monday (Georgia Southern), then faces Appalachian State (a team one spot ahead) on Saturday in the Sports Arena. GSU's finishes with the last-place team if they're still alive by that point.
