ATLANTA – Nyla Jean hit new career-highs with 19 points and five three-pointers and Deasia Merrill scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half as Georgia State topped James Madison 72-64 at the GSU Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon.

"Just really proud of the kids," said GSU head coach Gene Hill.  "I thought we played hard for 40 minutes, and that's something that we've been talking about; just playing hard and doing all the little things, and I felt like we did that overall."

Jean's 19 points and five threes topped her previous highs of 14 points at Texas State on January 12 and four three-pointers against Old Dominion on January 21.  The sophomore from Tampa, Fla. shot 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three.

"Nyla's a great player," said Coach Hill on Jean's performance.  "She can score, and we know and we told her over and over, she's going to have to look to score a little more and take those shots because we have confidence in her, and that's one of the reasons we put her in the lineup because we needed someone who could knock down those shots.  She stepped up and she showed it tonight."

Merrill heated up and made seven of her nine field attempts in the second half after missing most of the first half with foul trouble.  Her final stat line saw her shoot 8-of-12 with her 17 points coming in just 22 minutes.

Mikyla Tolivert just missed a double-double with 18 points, seven rebounds and nine assists despite shooting only 3-of-9 and made 12-of-13 free throws.  The sophomore from Plant, Fla. just missed her fourth-straight 20-plus point night and is averaging 22 points in her last four games.

Alyssa Phillip also contributed with five points and 11 rebounds, equaling her career-high set against Appalachian State on Thursday.

Georgia State (10-13, 4-6 Sun Belt) held James Madison (17-5, 7-3) to 31.3 percent from the field including 6-of-22 from three and outrebounded the Dukes 38-37 despite a size disadvantage in their lineup.  The Panther defense especially clamped down in the second half, holding JMU to 21.6 percent in the final two quarters.  It is the second straight game that the Panthers have held their opponents to under 33 percent shooting and 22 percent in the second half after Appalachian State shot 32.8 percent and 18.2 percent in the second half on Thursday.

GSU's offense shot 44.9 percent and 7-of-14 from three with 14 assists.

Down 34-30 at halftime, GSU stormed out front with an 11-2 run as Nyla Jean nailed two three-pointers and Deasia Merrill converted a jump shot and a three-point play to put the Panthers up for good.

James Madison briefly pulled within one before a layup by Mikyla Tolivert and three-pointer by Jenae Dublin increased GSU's lead to six.  Both sides then traded baskets, and then a Dukes' three-pointer cut the lead to three before Tolivert made two free throws and Merrill hit a jumper with six seconds left to put the Panthers up 52-45.

GSU then outscored JMU 20-19 in the fourth quarter to seal the game and led by as many as 10.

Kiki Jefferson led James Madison with 28 points and seven rebounds.

Georgia State will play its first game of a four-game road trip at in-state rival Georgia Southern on February 2.  Tipoff is at 6 p.m.