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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team wrapped its five games in 11 days with a solid 81-72 win over Lipscomb University on Monday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks improved to 2-3 on the season with the nine-point win, while Lipscomb remained winless on the season at 0-5. Jax State has now won back-to-back home games for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
JSU had an all-around complete game, including a 50-point second half in which it erased a four-point, 35-31, Lipscomb halftime lead. The Gamecocks only had seven of their 17 turnovers in the second half and drained 60 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the final 20 minutes to fend off the Lady Bisons. LU's 23 turnovers led to 25 points for JSU on the other end.
The senior tandem of
Brittany Manning and
Destiny Lane took the young Jax State squad and carried them. Manning had her best game thus far on the season with a 23-point effort and dished out three assists and swiped a career-high three steals in 36 minutes of action. She connected on a career-high 10-of-19 from the floor as the Huntsville, Ala.-native was two points shy of matching her personal best in points. Lane enjoys playing against the Purple and Gold of LU as she poured in 19 points on 7-of-15 from the field. Last season, she established a career-high with 21 points.
After a see-saw battle in the opening half in which the lead changed three times and there were six ties in the first 20 minutes. The Lady Bisons built their largest lead of the contest at right before the intermission at 35-29 before a late lay up by JSU's
Miranda Cantrell sent LU to the dressing room with a 35-31 advantage. The Lady Bisons hit 13-of-24 (54%) shots in the opening frame, led by Hannah Pillips' ten point first-half effort. Phillips would finish the game with 19 points.
With the game knotted at 46-all with 13:31 left in the game, JSU turned the heat on for the next seven minutes to race out to an 11-point, 62-51 lead at the 6:32 mark. The Red and White put together a 16-5 run over those seven minutes to build that double-digit lead with a Manning jumper. LU quickly trimmed the deficit down to four points with 5:22 left in the contest. Jax State pushed the lead back to 70-60 on a
Danielle Vaughn lay up with 3:11 remaining and matched its largest lead of the contest at 11 point on two occasions down the stretch.
Plagued with foul trouble in the first half, Vaughn still managed to post her second double-double of the season and the tenth of her career with a 10-point, 13 rebound evening. The Huntsville, Ala.-post player scored eight of her ten points pulled down seven boards in the final half alone. Vaughn pulled down ten defensive boards and was credited with a pair of blocked shots.
Freshman
Briana Morrow scored in double figures for the second time this season with 12 points. Playing against a school from her hometown of Nashville, Tenn., she pulled down seven rebounds. Freshman
Candace Morton added nine points and six assists in the win.
Miranda Cantrell scored all eight points off the Gamecock bench.
JSU returns to action on Friday, Nov. 25 against Southern Mississippi in the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by USM in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Gamecocks and Lady Eagles will tip off at 5 p.m. in the second game of the day at Reed Green Coliseum. Georgia Southern and Stephen F. Austin will precede the JSU-USM contest at 2:30 p.m. The two winners will vie for the championship on Saturday at 7 p.m., while the consolation match up is set for 11 a.m.