ATLANTA – Deasia Merrill equaled her career-high 22 points and 13 rebounds and Jenae Dublin scored seven of her 14 points in overtime to help lead Georgia State to a 66-57 win over South Alabama at the GSU Convocation Center on Thursday night.

Merrill shot 6-of-11 from the floor and made a career-high 10 free throws with two blocks.  Her 22 points and 13 rebounds equaled her career-highs set at Kennesaw State (points) on December 10 and against St. Bonaventure (rebounds) on November 11.  The redshirt-junior from Villa Rica entered the contest ranked 32^nd in the NCAA and 1^st in the Sun Belt with a .574 field goal percentage.

"Obviously, Deasia's led us this year in scoring and rebounding, and now she's seeing when you're the go-to player as far as the focus player; the player that the defense is geared to stop, she's seeing how that feels, and I think now, she's starting to accept that," say GSU head coach Gene Hill about Merrill.  "She's started to not get frustrated with it, and she's starting to just let the game come to her, and that's what she did today.  She understood that, 'Hey listen.  Even if they foul me, I can go to the free throw line and make 10 free throws.'  That's the same as making five shots there.  Just really proud of her, again, just putting the hard work in, and you know for her, everything she's gone through with her knees and everything and just continuing to battle and continue to just keep grinding it out each day and just really proud and happy for her.  I know it's a challenge for her, but we're really just excited to have here on the team."

"Today was just a game we were just trying to win.  We were at home.  We know South Alabama's a good team, and they were greedy for a win, so we were just trying to play, do the gameplan and pound the ball inside," said Merrill on the team's gameplan.  "We knew they were going to double, but just being patient and just finding open players.  That was really our gameplan."

Dublin shot 5-of-11 with two three-pointers with three of her five field goals coming in overtime to help spark GSU's 11-2 run to start the period.  The junior from Suitland, Md. also grabbed four rebounds and tallied three blocks. 

"Today just shows, when kids are willing to work and improve and come in extra to do better and to get better, it shows what can happen, and that's what happened," said Coach Hill on Jenae's performance.  "Jenae was willing to ask, 'Hey what do I need to do to help this team.  I want to help this team.'  She's been staying in, staying after practice with (Coach Jon Bollier) doing the work, and today, you saw the evidence of that.  Just really happy for her.  Happy that she was able to experience that and to see that her hard work can get some dividends there."

"When the ball got in my hands, I just thought about my confidence, and I knew that the team needed me, so I just wanted to go out with some intensity, not think to much, not rush, and just go out there with some confidence to help my team," said Dublin.

Zay Dyer also reached double-figures for Georgia State (8-8, 2-1 Sun Belt), scoring 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting with six rebounds.

With the score tied 52-52 heading into overtime, Jenae Dublin opened the period with two straight jumpers, and then Mya Byrd made two free throws to put the Panthers up 58-52 with 2:08 remaining.  Both teams then made two free throws apiece before Dublin nailed a three-pointer with 1:14 left to cap the 11-2 run and help seal the game for the Panthers.

GSU trailed 49-48 with 1:57 left in the fourth when Nyla Jean grabbed an offensive rebound off a blocked shot and found Mya Byrd, who then nailed a three-pointer from the perimeter to put the Panthers up 51-49.  The Jaguars (4-10, 0-3) then retook the lead with 1:41 left on a layup by Kelsey Thompson with a foul before Byrd made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game up. 

The Panthers had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Deasia Merrill's layup with seven seconds left was blocked.  The Jaguars then grabbed the rebound and called timeout but opted to inbound the ball from their own end line and ran the ball across the court but couldn't get a last-second shot to fall.

Playing without starting guard Mikyla Tolivert, GSU trailed 18-8 with 23 seconds left in the first quarter after South Alabama scored the game's first nine points and shot 5-of-10 from three in the opening period.  A tip-in at the buzzer by Deasia Merrill cut the deficit to eight at the quarter-break, but the Jaguars were able to extend their lead to 28-17 in the second when the Panthers reeled off an 11-0 run to tie the game 28-28 at halftime.

The score was tied 37-37 with 5:51 left in the third when the Jaguars went on a 7-0 run to pull ahead.  Deasia Merrill cut the deficit to five with two free throws to end the quarter.   She then scored on a layup with a foul in the fourth and made her free throw to cut it to two before Mya Byrd then evened the score at 44 with a layup with 7:53 remaining as both teams exchanged leads six times in the fourth to help set up the thrilling overtime finish.

"Winning always feels good.  We talked to the players before the game about just coming out and being at home and protecting home court, how important that is.  We got to sense the road last week and saw how tough it is to play on the road, and we talked about coming home and trying to take care of home court, and I just feel like I'm proud of the players," said Coach Hill on the team's performance.  "I told them that I felt like South Alabama came out and they threw a big punch at us first, and we didn't crumble.  We maybe fell back a bit, but we continued to fight, and we continued to stay with our gameplan, and we stayed together, and I think that was a big difference, and I think that's a great example, because we've been talking to everyone about continuing to play and show some discipline and some toughness, and I think they showed that today, and they're seeing when they do that, what can happen."

Georgia State will face Troy at the GSU Convocation Center on Saturday, Jan. 7.  Tipoff is at 2 p.m.