It didn’t matter, as the Eagles (3-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) got a monkey off their back with a 70-58 win Saturday against Elon.
The last time the two teams faced, the No. 11 seed Lady Phoenix eliminated GSU from the first round of the 2009 SoCon tournament.
“We knew they were going to come in here ready to play, looking to kick our butts again, but we had something to prove,” said GSU forward J’Lisia Ogburn. “We were determined.”
The Eagles looked to be in control in the early going, running up a quick 11-2 lead in the game’s first 3:14 on eight combined points from Navarro and Jessica Geiger and a 3-pointer from Carolyn Whitney – the only GSU 3 in the game’s first half – but Elon (2-4, 0-1) clawed back in, taking a 26-25 lead on a jumper by Amber Wall with 3:59 remaining in the first.
With everyone on the floor having trouble finding the bottom of the net, a series of runs helped keep it close for GSU.
Ogburn scored the last seven points of the first half for the Eagles as they hit the locker room trailing 32-30. Samantha Williams came off the bench to get all of her points on a seven point-run of her own early in the second half, which was capped off with a 3 and gave Georgia Southern a 44-42 lead with 11:04 remaining in the game. The Eagles never trailed after that point.
“Honestly I just think it’s come due, because I haven’t had a great start to the season so far,” Williams said. “It’s just about keeping positive and really trusting your teammates.”
The Eagles finished the contest on a 12-5 run to secure the victory.
Elon used the same zone defense while applying pressure that shut down the Lady Eagles in the second half of the 2008-09 season.
“(Appalachian State) pressed us for 40 minutes (in a 73-68 win on Wednesday), now Elon pressed us for 40 minutes and we’re growing up through it. It’s obvious that for teams to do that, they feel like we can’t handle it,” said GSU coach Rusty Cram. “Sooner or later, people are going to start playing us man-to-man again, but you’ve got to put it all together and be able to play them both.”
Whitney led all scorers with 17 points, and three other Eagles scored in double digits.
Ogburn added 12 to go along with 10 rebounds and Geiger and Navarro each added 10.
Navarro missed two foul shots in the second half and finished 5 for 7 on the night after entering the game making all 19 attempts on the season.
“I was upset,” said Navarro, who indicated it was always on the back of her mind when she was at the line. “I came in wanting to be perfect, but now I don’t have to worry about it.”
Elon guard Ali Ford led the Phoenix with 15 points, and Julie Taylor added 10.
The Eagles held Elon to just 3 of 15 3-point attempts and the Phoenix shot 40-percent from the floor. GSU won the rebound battle 36-32.
Georgia Southern returns to action when it travels to Macon Friday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9408.
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