SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (SIAC) top scorer, Savannah State sophomore Le'Andrea Gillis, led the Lady Tigers to an 88-80 victory over the College of Coastal Georgia in Tiger Arena on Monday with a career-high 31 points.
 
Gillis also recorded her first double-double of the season, pulling down 10 boards in the win. The Adrian, Georgia native was joined in double figures by SIAC top scorers Ta'Kyla Austin (20 points) and Azhana Maxwell (19).
 
The non-conference warmup game was the final home game for SSU for the next three weeks as they hit the road for three key SIAC games against Lane College (Jan. 11), Fort Valley State (Jan. 18) and Clark Atlanta (Jan. 20). They return to Tiger Arena on January 25 for a big SIAC game against the current East Division leader Benedict College.
 
SSU shot at a 46% clip from the floor on Monday. They shot 40% from beyond the arc and 67% from the free-throw line. The Lady Tigers have the top scoring offense in the SIAC currently, averaging 82 points per game. They improve to 6-3 on the season and head into the conference road stretch 2-3 in SIAC play.
 
The Lady Tigers broke a tie game with 1:37 to play in the opening quarter behind a 9-2 run for a 28-21 lead into the second period. SSU would not relinquish the lead through the rest of the game, going up by as much 20 points in the third quarter.
 
The Mariners put on a late push in the final two minutes of play, cutting SSU's double-digit lead to six points with 30 seconds to play. But in the waning seconds, Austin sank two good free-throws and Gillis added two of her for the final score.
 
Four Mariners finished in double figures on the night. Solrun Gisladottir lead with 24 points, while Lynsey Washington recorded a double-double, putting up 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Quira Porter, Coastal Georgia's top scorer, had 15 in the loss. Romny Felts tacked on 12 for the visitors.