ATLANTA -
Jenae Dublin scored 16 points and
Zay Dyer and
Mikyla Tolivert scored 11 as Georgia State (6-7) dominated LaGrange 81-35 at the GSU Convocation Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Dublin's 16 points led all nine Panther scorers and equaled her career-high set at Florida A&M on November 15. The junior from Suitland, Md. shot 6-of-12 from the field and drained a career-high three shots from three-point range.
Tolivert shot 5-of-7 from the field with three assists, and Dyer added 12 rebounds with her 11 points for her third double-double after scoring 28 points against North Alabama on Monday.
Alyssa Phillip and
Nyla Jean both just missed double-figures, scoring nine points off the bench with Phillip grabbing seven rebounds, and
Alex Gitchenko and
Deasia Merrill both scored eight points each.
Mya Byrd led all Panthers with eight assists. Georgia State tallied 21 assists on 27 baskets and held LaGrange to 13-of-59 shooting and a season-best 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) from three.
Playing in the second game of a back-to-back after defeating North Alabama 84-70 Monday afternoon, GSU dominated LaGrange 38-14 in the paint and 31-12 in points off the bench. The Panthers also won the rebounding battle 48-33 and shot 20-for-26 at the free throw line while registering 13 steals which led to 18 fast-break points with seven blocks. Their 46 point margin of victory is tied for 13th best all-time in the Georgia State annals.
"Obviously we felt like these two games were important to come out and work on some things that we've been struggling with," said GSU head coach
Gene Hill. "We didn't have a lot of practice time with all those games, so we felt like it was important to come out and execute and establish our style of play. I think it gave our girls confidence that if you come out and play 40 minutes and if you execute, you get great shots."Â
"The one stat that I'm really happy with: we had 21 assists on 27 field goals," added Coach Hill on his team's impressive stat line. "I think that's a great example of playing unselfish and sharing the ball and being willing to let people take great shots. Good confidence there. Hopefully we can build off it and continue to play, but it definitely feels good to go home on a high note."
Georgia State raced out to a 17-2 lead in the first quarter and never trailed, outscoring LaGrange in all four quarters and scoring the game's final 18 points.
The Panthers will open up Sun Belt Conference play at Louisiana on December 29. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m.