SAVANNAH, Ga.- After starting the season with two wins against non-Division I opponents, Savannah State faced their first Division I competition of the season in coastal empire rival Georgia Southern at Tiger Arena.
 
SSU hung with the Eagles for three quarters but in the end it was GS walking away with a 82-71 victory.
 
The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the first quarter but GS rallied to tie the game at 12-12 with 3:05 left.
 
Savannah State (2-1) went ahead 15-12  thanks to two free throws by Myasia Jones and a free throw by Jabrekia Bass but GS answered with a layup by Alisha Owens to pull within one.
 
A 3-pointer by Jones put SSU back up by four but a 3-pointer by the Eagles' Victoria Stavropoulos with 51 seconds left trimmed Savannah State's lead to 18-17.
 
Early in the second quarter, Georgia Southern was down by four but put together a 20-3 run that gave them a 38-25 advantage with 3:13 on the clock.
 
GS stretched their lead to 45-30 with 1:28 showing and took a 45-33 lead into the half.
 
The Eagles opened the third quarter by scoring the first five points to expand their advantage to 50-33.
 
Getting scoring from four different players, Savannah State used a 15-4 run to close their gap to 54-48 with 4:15 left in the quarter.
 
GS went up by 12 with 1:42 showing but two free throws apiece by Jones and Azhana Maxwell cut the Lady Tigers deficit to 62-54 with 45 seconds showing.
 
Savannah State ended the third quarter trailing 66-55.
 
SSU trailed by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter. Down 81-67, a 3-pointer by Heniaya Moton and a free throw by Jacquece Alston drew the Lady Tigers within 81-71 with 36 seconds left but they would get no closer.
 
Jones had a game-high 28 points for Savannah State along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jones made four 3-pointers and went 8 for 10 from the free throw line.
 
Ta'Quasia Lampkin was the only other SSU player in double figures with 11 points.
 
The Lady Tigers shot 31.1 percent from the field but out-rebounded GS 52 to 43.
 
Alexis Brown led four Georgia Southern (1-3) players in double figures with 24 points while Sarah Moore had 12 rebounds.
 
GSU shot 53.3 percent from the field in the third quarter and  42.4 percent from the floor for the game.