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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team dropped an 82-78 exhibition contest to Emory University on Sunday at Pete Mathews Coliseum as the game served as a primer for the upcoming 2011-12 basketball season that gets underway this week.

Four of the five Gamecock starters reached double figures in the scoring column, but could not overcome the hole that JSU dug itself in at the midway point of the opening half.  Senior guard Destiny Lane shared top-scoring honors with 21 points on eight made baskets, including a trio of three pointers.  The Ashville, Ala.-native also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out five assists.  Lane was credited with four steals in the affair.

The Eagles of EU, a Division III program from Atlanta, Ga., built a double figure lead by the 8:55 mark of the second half with a hot shooting from beyond the three-point arc.  This season in NCAA Women's Basketball is the new three-point line, the same distance that men's basketball shoots from and Emory had no problems adjusting to the new distance in the opening 20 minutes of the game.  The Eagles connected on 7-of-12 from beyond the arc and built its largest lead of the contest at 38-24 at the 7:13 mark of the first half. 

Jax State shaved the deficit down to eight points, 45-37, by intermission after Briana Morrow's lay up at the halftime buzzer.  Morrow, a heralded freshman from Nashville, Tenn., turned in a stout performance in her first collegiate action.  Morrow finished with 19 points and seven rebounds on the day.

Morrow continued her stellar play in the second half as she led the Jax State charge with a 10-2 scoring run to get the Red and White back within striking distance. Morrow scored six of her 11 second half points over a 1:36 span as JSU trailed just 63-61 with 10:03 left in the game.  The 5-foot-11 post player had help from veteran post player Danielle Vaughn in the final 20 minutes as well.  Vaughn, a junior from Huntsville, Ala., tallied 14 of her final 16 points in the second half.  She also finished with a game-high 16 rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

The Gamecocks limited the Eagles from the perimeter in the second half as they hit just two three-pointers in the second half, but they knocked them down when they needed a lift.  Savannah Morgan drained a trey with 7:11 left to push the EU lead out to nine points and Becca Feldman's three-pointer at the 5:10 mark gave the Blue and White its largest second-half lead t 12 points, 76-64.

Senior forward Brittany Manning added ten points and three assists in the preseason tune up. Guards Amanda McCarthy and Kaitlynn Pacholke came off the bench to give valuable minutes in the backcourt.  McCarthy posted six points on a pair of three-pointers, while Pacholke, a rookie from Tampa, Fla. got her first taste of college basketball with four points and five steals in 21 minutes of floor action.

The Gamecocks will now turn their attention to the opening night of the 2011-12 season as they travel to Starkville, Miss. to face Southeastern Conference member Mississippi State on Friday, Nov. 11.  Tip off is set for 7 p.m. at MSU's Humphrey Coliseum.