Boxscore

ATLANTA -- The University of Delaware women’s basketball team struggled offensively as it dropped its third straight Colonial Athletic Association game in a 55-48 setback to host Georgia State Sunday afternoon at the GSU Sports Complex.

Delaware lost for the first time in Atlanta in three meetings against the Panthers and fell to 8-6 (0-3 CAA) for the season. It is the first time UD has started league play 0-3 since the 1991-92 season when it was part of the North Atlantic Conference and started league play 0-4.

As a team, the Blue Hens shot 34 percent from the field, including 25.9 percent in the first half as they went into intermission down 26-19.

Georgia State (9-4, 2-1 CAA), which came into the game ranked third in the NCAA in turnover margin, turned the ball over 22 times but forced 24 by Delaware. Of those 24 UD turnovers, eight came in the final eight minutes as Panthers pulled away.

According to Head Coach Tina Martin, the Blue Hens fought hard in the second half, even taking a two-point lead as late as the 7:44 mark, but their youth showed at the end.

“I thought we gave a good effort," said Martin. "Our problem is in the last four minutes of the game. We just do things that are not smart. Our kids get nervous and throw the ball all over the place, and that cannot happen. It’s very frustrating,” Martin said.

Freshman guard Jocelyn Bailey (at right) came off the bench and led the Blue Hens with 10 points on 4-11 shooting from the field and 2-4 from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Vanessa Kabongo and junior guard Corinthia Benison each tallied eight points as well. Delaware held a 34-32 edge in rebounding, led by sophomore forwards Ariene Jenkins (8) and Eva Riddick (7).

The Panthers were led by freshman guard Jylisa Williams and sophomore guard Crystal Johnson who scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. Johnson also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists.

Georgia State took an early 10-2 lead in the first half, and led by as much as nine when a Brittany Graham three-pointer put the Panthers up 20-11. Both teams traded baskets for the rest of the half, with the Blue Hens climbing to within five at 2:31 when Benison made the first of two at the foul line.

Graham made both of her free throws at 1:35 to push the lead back to seven at 26-19 and neither team would score for the remainder of the first half.

Delaware came out on a fierce 8-4 run before the first media timeout of the second half, led by four points by Kabongo, to push the score to 30-27. Then quickly after the media timeout, Benison converted on an and-one play to tie the game at 30-30.

The Blue Hens forced a missed three-point shot by Brittany Hollins on GSU’s next possession, but Graham got the offensive rebound and kicked it back out for a new shot clock. Crystal Johnson then found Graham open for a three-pointer, and she hit it to put the Panthers back up 33-30.

As the Panthers kept trying to pull away, Bailey hit one of two free throws and then two consecutive baseline jumpers to keep the Hens within one at 36-35 with 12:23 left to play.

The next trip down the floor, GSU’s Chandra Harris converted both of her free throws to put the Panthers back up three. A little more than two minutes later, Kabongo would hit a jumper to bring the Hens back to within one.

At the 8:56 mark, a jumper by Tesia Harris off an assist from Riddick, would give Delaware its first lead of the day at 39-38. But Chandra Harris would put in her own offensive rebound at 8:09, and GSU was back up, 40-39.

Then at the 7:44 mark, Benison made just her fifth three-point field goal of the season, giving Delaware a 42-40 lead. GSU’s next trip down the floor, Dana Olsen would make both her free throws, tying the game once more at 42-42.

Delaware would regain the lead at 44-42 when Riddick grabbed an offensive rebound off a Benison miss and put in a layup at 6:38, but that would be its last lead.

Williams converted a three-point play with 5:33 left to give GSU the lead for good and the Panthers never looked back, going on an 11-4 run to end the game.