Greenville, S.C. – Le'Jzae Davidson scored a game-high 19 points, while Sutton West pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, as the Furman women's basketball team defeated the Georgia Southern Eagles in its home opener, 78-63, on Sunday evening at Timmons Arena.

Furman evens its record at 1-1 on the season while Georgia Southern drops to 0-1 overall.

Davidson led four Paladins in double-figures scoring with 19 points highlighted by five 3-pointers. Celena Taborn added 14 points and six rebounds after shooting 5-of-6 from the field. Taylor Petty contributed 13 points and five assists (ties career-high) after going 3-of-5 overall and 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Milica Manojlovic tallied 11 points and matched her career-high of seven assists. West concluded the game with seven points and nine rebounds while also tying her career-high of three blocks.

Tatum Barber and Nikki McDonald paced the Eagles offensively with 14 and 12 points, respectively. McDonald and Sarah Moore tied for the team-lead with six rebounds apiece. Mya Burns dished out four assists and Alexis Brown had three steals.

After the teams traded the opening eight points of the game, Taborn connected on three free throws to give Furman a 7-4 lead with 6:20 remaining. Petty's 3-point play one minute later extended the Paladins' lead out to 10-6. Manojlovic kept the lead at four, 12-8, with 4:57 left with a pair of free throws. Georgia Southern outscored Furman 9-3 over the final 4:56 and led 17-15 at the end of the quarter.

The Paladins limited the Eagles to just five points in the second quarter as they made just two field goals on 11 attempts. Furman scored the first nine points of the quarter and held Georgia Southern without a basket over a stretch of 5:33. During that run, the Paladins built their lead out to 24-17 with 5:43 to go on Lindsey Taylor's layup. Petty later put Furman ahead by double-digits, 29-19, at the 3:02 mark with two free throws. After McDonald connected on a three for Georgia Southern, the Paladins closed out the half on a 12-0 run that covered less than two minutes beginning with back-to-back 3-pointers by Davidson. Petty's four-point play with four seconds remaining sent Furman into halftime leading 41-22.

Davidson and Manojlovic started the third quarter scoring a combined seven points, while the Eagles managed just three, to increase the Paladins' lead to their largest of the game, 48-25, with 8:26 remaining. Georgia Southern then used a 14-5 run over the next 5:06 to cut its deficit down to 14 points, 53-39, capped by Brown's layup. Furman answered with six consecutive points to push its lead out to 59-39 with 1:17 left on Davidson's 3-pointer. Nakol Franks recorded a 3-pointer 17 seconds later as the Paladins held a 59-42 lead heading to the fourth quarter.

Furman held a double-digit lead for the first 2:58 of the fourth quarter and led by as many 19 points, 61-42, when Taborn began the period with a layup. The Eagles would then go on a 12-2 run over the following 2:32 and made it a 63-54 contest with 7:11 to go on a 3-pointer by Jaiden Hamilton. Georgia Southern got as close as six points at the 3:24 mark when another 3-pointer by Hamilton made the score 67-61. The Paladins stepped defensively over the final 3:23 holding the Eagles to just two points. Furman scored its final seven points at the free throw line. A pair of free throws by Tyah Hunter with 16 seconds remaining put the final score at 78-63.

The Paladins finished the game shooting 55.6 percent (25-of-45) from the field and were 41.2 percent (7-of-17) behind the 3-point line. Furman also made 21 free throws in the contest.

The Paladins continue their three-game homestand on Wednesday evening when they host North Greenville at 7 p.m.