Box Score Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE – Danielle Vaughn's career-high 26-point effort led Jacksonville State to an 83-67 win over LeMoyne-Owen in its 2011-12 home debut on Thursday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The 16-point victory was much needed for the Gamecocks after they opened the season with a pair of tough losses at the hands of Southeastern Conference foes Mississippi State and Kentucky.  The Magicians of LeMoyne-Owen, an NCAA Division II program from Memphis, Tenn. falls to 1-1 on the season. 

JSU is now 12-5 in home openers since 2000 and have claimed ten of the last 12 home debuts.

The 83-point output is the most for an Annette Watts' JSU squad as last season the Gamecocks posted 81 points in an overtime win at Morehead State.

Jax State built a double-digit lead by the midway point of the first half as senior Destiny Lane drained one of her four three-pointers at the 10:49 mark to give the Red and White an 11-point, 24-13 advantage.  Lane's third trey of the half pushed the Gamecocks' lead out to 16 points with 5:43 left in the opening period.  The senior from Ashville, Ala. finished with nine of her 21 points in the first half.  The 21-points equaled her career-high as she tallied 21 points last season at Lipscomb.  She also pulled down eight rebounds while playing all 40 minutes of the contest.

The Magicians employed its full court press to give Jax State fits and forcing 12 second half turnovers and a final tally of 26 miscues.  LOC turned those 12 turnovers into 11 points to trim the JSU lead of 17 points, 55-39, at the 13:06 mark down to six points at 56-50 after an 11-1 run with 11:21 left in the game.  JSU extended the lead back out to 13 points after Lane knocked down her fourth trey with 6:33 remaining.  Lane and Vaughn each scored 12 points each to lead the 41-point second half for JSU.

Vaughn posted her ninth double-double of her career after pulling down 12 rebounds.  The Huntsville, Ala.-post player reached double digits in the scoring column by the first half with 14 points.  Vaughn, who has led the Ohio Valley Conference in field goal percentage the last two seasons, connected on 11-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line.  She also was credited with three blocked shots in 35 minutes of activity. 

Freshman Briana Morrow aided Vaughn in the post with her first career double-double.  The Nashville, Tenn.-product registered 13 points and 12 rebounds.  Senior Brittany Manning dished out a personal-best six assists and added nine points.  Freshman point guard Candace Morton chipped in eight points and five assists. 

Jax State finished the contest shooting 56 percent from the field (33-of-58), while holding LOC to just 22 percent shooting (22-of-80).  The Gamecocks won the edge on the glass, pulling down 48 rebounds.

As a team, JSU accumulated 20 assists, the most since a 2009 contest against Eastern Kentucky.  Jax State, the early OVC leader in blocked shots finished with six blocked shots. 

The Magicians were led by Blair Scott's 17 points.  Shonice Sprouse added 15 points after she tallied 42 points in LOC's season-opening win over Rust College.

JSU's plays its fourth game in nine days on Saturday, Nov. 19 as it makes the short drive over to Kennesaw,Ga. to face the Owls of Kennesaw State.  Tip off is set for 6 p.m. CST. KSU enters the contest at 1-1 on the season after a road win at Gardner-Webb on Tuesday. Jax State topped the Owls 77-56 last season in Jacksonville.