Second verse: same as the first.

Georgia Southern defeated Western Carolina for the second time in five days, overcoming some early offensive difficulties to earn a 62-48 win – its fourth straight.

“We had just finished playing them, so today was like a practice,” said GSU coach Rusty Cram. “You see so much of each other that you get used to everyone’s tendencies. Nobody forgot what the other was trying to do, so it made things a bit more difficult.”

Trailing 33-30 midway through the second half, the Lady Eagles (13-9, 8-5 Southern Conference) finally came to life. Four different Eagles would score on five straight possessions as GSU rattled off a 10-0 run that kept Western off the scoreboard for almost five minutes of game time.

J’Lisia Ogburn led the way for the Eagles. The senior forward topped all GSU scorers with 18 – 10 coming in the decisive second half - and also hauled in seven rebounds.

“We hit a drought for awhile and couldn’t get any points,” said Ogburn. “I think we did a good job defensively though. We held their scorers down until the offense came back. It helped that we had just played (Western). We knew exactly what we had to do.”

“We were able to work J’Lisia down into the post in the second half,” said Cram. “That turned things around for us. We had some people really step up for us tonight and help us get a win.”

The Eagles looked to have seized control early. Early Catamount turnovers and some solid inside offense allowed GSU to jump out in front. Two early inside buckets by Ogburn and a deep 3 by Navarro got the Eagles off to a quick 10-2 start.

Western turned the ball over on four straight possessions – bringing the total to 14 in the half – but GSU could not take advantage. Two steals by Williams and one each by Frye and Whitney netted the Eagles just three points, and WCU would jump right back into the game.

A pair of 3’s by Emily Clarke (13 points) cut the Eagle lead to 24-22 and a three-point play by Janae McKinney gave the Cats a 25-24 advantage at the 2:02 mark – a lead that would hold into the break as GSU did not record a field goal over the final 4:38 of the first half.

“We took an early lead and then got a little bit too complacent,” said Cram. “We stopped playing physical and weren’t taking good shots. We talked about it in the locker room and were able to turn it around later in the second half.”

After the 10-0 run to regain the lead, the Eagles slowly pulled away.

Caitlin Hollifield (6 points) sank a layup to end the GSU run, but quick buckets by Frye and Janay Wilson pushed the Eagles to a 47-35 lead.

Another inside jumper from Hollifield got WCU within 50-43 at the 4:42 mark, but the Eagles responded with another run. Ogburn and Navarro each struck again, and a tough leaner by Whitney to beat the shot clock put GSU up, 56-43 and essentially put the game out of reach.

With their fourth win in as many games, the Eagles appear to be peaking at just the right time.

“We’ve had four or five solid games in a row,” said Cram. “The biggest thing is that we’re healthy. Last season, Carolyn and Jamie were both hurt and that really killed our scoring down the stretch. Hopefully, we can avoid that this time.”

The Eagles will get a chance to ride their momentum into back-to-back home games against the top of the Southern conference. GSU welcomes Chattanooga Saturday afternoon before hosting Samford next Monday.

Mike Anthony can be reached at (912) 489-9404.