ATLANTA – Zay Dyer scored a career-high 28 points and Georgia State (5-7) shot a single-game record .667 from the field to defeat North Alabama (5-5) 84-70 at the GSU Convocation Center on Monday afternoon.

Dyer dominated the Lions all game long, shooting a remarkable 13-of-16 (.813) from the floor to eclipse 20 points for the first time in her career while tallying seven rebounds and two blocked shots.  The freshman from Atlanta is the first Panther to score 28 or more points since 2021.

Georgia State's offense shot 32-of-48 from the field and 6-of-10 from three to shatter the previous field goal percentage record of .632 set against Chattanooga in 2000.  It is the first time that GSU has shot .600 or better since shooting .604 at Georgia Southern on February 2, 2019.

"I told our players that I felt like this was probably our best game this season, and what I mean by that is, you know, we really executed, I felt like, for 40 minutes the game plan," said GSU head coach Gene Hill.  "We talked a lot about making sure that we display toughness and discipline in our offense and in our defense, and I felt like tonight for 40 minutes, maybe 38 when they started pressing us there a little bit, we kind of got out of it, but I just felt like we did a great job.  North Alabama's a great team.  They lead the nation in three-point shooting.  They're hard to defend, and I felt like with us putting our post players out there and having to defend on the perimeter, we did a great job, but we also did a great job offensively executing and getting what we wanted.  We didn't want them to control the tempo, and I just felt like we did a great job."

Deasia Merrill just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds, reaching double-figures in her eighth straight contest.  The redshirt-junior from Villa Rica is now averaging 14.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.  Her .596 shooting percentage leads the Sun Belt and ranks 23^rd in the NCAA.

Nyla Jean added 13 points on 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from three.  Jenae Dublin added nine points and six rebounds, and Mya Byrd made both of her three point attempts in her first start of the season while leading the team with six assists.

GSU capitalized on their size advantage to outrebound North Alabama 32-19 and held a 22-7 rebounding advantage at halftime.

The Panthers jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the opening minutes and led for the entire game.  They outscored North Alabama 21-12 in the first quarter and 18-15 in the second to take a 39-27 lead at halftime.  GSU shot a remarkable 10-of-12 in the third quarter, including a seven minute stretch where they made eight straight field goals to extend their lead, and led by as many as 21 in the fourth.

A desperate Lions team made a late run to cut the deficit to 9 with 3:38 left but would get no closer.  Hina Suzuki led North Alabama with 22 points, five assists and four steals.

Georgia State will return to action tomorrow against LaGrange College at the GSU Convocation Center.  Tipoff is at 12 p.m.