Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State protected its home court for the third-straight time this season as the Gamecocks discarded in-state rival Troy, 65-54, on Sunday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

JSU moved to 3-6 on the season with all three victories coming within the friendly confines of Pete Mathews Coliseum.  The Trojans of Troy dropped to 0-7 on the season with the 11-point loss.  The Gamecocks have now claimed three consecutive home wins for the first time since 2005-06.

Jax State has now turned in back-to-back wins over its nemesis from the Sun Belt Conference for the first time since the 1998 season in which the two squads faced each other twice during the campaign.  The win also is the first over the Trojans at home since the 2007 season. 

The Gamecocks posted one of their top shooting performances of the season, while limiting Troy to just 30 percent shooting from the field.  JSU connected on 25-of-52 (48%) for the contest that was highlighted by a 52 percent shooting second half.  The Red and White had its second-best rebounding margin of the season as it out-rebounded Troy, 47-28. 

Senior Destiny Lane, JSU's leading scorer coming into the contest, established a new career high in points with a 23-point performance.  The Ashville, Ala.-native's previous personal best was 21 points on three different occasions throughout her career, most recently turned in against LeMoyne-Owen.  Lane filled up the stat sheet with 12 rebounds and three steals in playing all 40 minutes of the affair.  With her 12 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end, she tallied her first double-double of the season and third of her career.  She scored 15 of her 23 points on five three pointers.

JSU took control of the lead five minutes deep into the contest and never trailed the rest of the way.  Leading 7-6 with 15:32 to go in the opening half, the Gamecocks stretched the lead out to a first-half high 11 points, 19-8, six minutes later on a Briana Morrow jumper.  Jax State had two more 11-point leads throughout the first 20 minutes before Troy trimmed the deficit down to seven points at 29-22 heading into the halftime break.  That would be as close as the Trojans would get the rest of the way.

Lane turned in back-to-back treys to give Jax State a 41-29 lead at the 15:24 mark of the half.  Her pair of three-pointers sparked a Gamecock 18-8 scoring run over the next five minutes to stretch the JSU advantage out to a game-high 21 points.  Lane capped the run with a running jumper in the paint with just over seven minutes to play to seal the win.  JSU thwarted a couple of Troy runs down the stretch as the Trojans chipped the deficit down to the final spread of 11 points.

Including Lane, JSU had three players reach double digits in the scoring column.  Morrow finished with 11 points and six rebounds.  Freshman Candace Morton registered ten points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line off the bench.  Junior Danielle Vaughn came off the bench for seven points and nine rebounds.

DeAngela Sword led Trojans with 18 points.

Jax State will be idle from competition to concentrate on the Fall semester final examinations this coming week on the JSU campus. After final exams are in the books, the Gamecocks will travel to the state of Florida's city of Jacksonville for a three-game trip. JSU will open the trip on Thursday, Dec. 15 against Jacksonville University.