JACKSONVILLE – In a season of setting new program marks for women's basketball, Jacksonville State established another with the program's largest margin of victory over an Ohio Valley Conference opponent with a 70-34 thumping of Southeast Missouri on Wednesday at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The previous deficit was a 35-point, 82-47 win in Nashville, Tennessee over Tennessee State on January 30, 2006.  The 36-point win over SEMO improved JSU to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in league play as the squad heads to Martin, Tennessee for a Saturday match up with four-time defending OVC Champion, UT Martin.  Tip off is set for 4 p.m. from the Elam Center/Skyhawk Arena.  The Gamecocks finished their three-game homestand with a 2-1 mark and pushed its home court record to 7-1 in 2014-15.

The midweek contest featured the top-two teams in scoring defense as JSU entered the game holding its opponents to just 59.4 points per outing.  The Redhawks (7-11, 0-5 OVC) were limiting the opposition to 61.5 points per game.  The Gamecocks proved why they are the top team in the league on the defensive end by holding SEMO to a season-low 34 points.
 
JSU came out on shooting on all cylinders in the opening half as it connected on51.4 percent from the floor in the opening half – the third-best shooting half of the year for the Red and White.  In a game that it never trailed in, JSU and SEMO were deadlocked once after trading baskets in the first 1:38 of the contest.  The Gamecocks, who were out the services of senior post player Miranda Cantrell for the second-straight game, turned to freshman Tyler Phelion in the post.  Phelion, from Mobile, Alabama, sparked the offense with eight of her career-high 10 points in the first 20 minutes of the contest.

After the 2-all deadlock, JSU went on a 15-5 scoring run to put together a double digit margin by the midway point of the half that it would not relinquish the rest of the way.  The Gamecocks doubled up the Redhawks, 33-13, at the 4:-4 mark of the half after a three pointer by sophomore Briana Benson.  JSU pushed its first half point production out to 40 points and held SEMO to 13 points after 20 minutes of action.  The Gamecocks locked in on SEMO shooters the whole contest as SEMO hit just six baskets in the half and just 14 for the game.  SEMO finished the night 14-of-50 (28 %).
Junior Destany McLin, who tallied a game-high 19 points, matched SEMO with 13 points in the first half.  The Athens, Alabama-native finished 9-of-14 from the field and five rebounds in 31 minutes of action.

After taking a 27-point lead at the halftime break, the Gamecocks continued to shoot consistently in the second half after SEMO employed its zone defense against JSU in the opening minutes of the half.  JSU knocked down four of its seven made treys in the second half.  In the first five OVC games, Jax State is averaging 6.6 three pointers per game. 

JSU's Phelion and McLin highlighted the first half, but it was Benson and senior Courtney Strain that paced the scoring in the final half.  Benson tallied 10 of her 15 points in the second half, while Strain added eight second-half points to finish in double figures with 11 points.  Strain, who has struggled in the last two games shooting, connected on 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the second half.  Phelion's jumper with just under five minutes to play gave JSU its largest lead of 40 points at 66-26.  She finished one rebound shy of her first double-double of her career and was credited with four blocked shots.

The Gamecocks finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Redhawks by four, 40-36.

Hannah Noe came off the bench to lead SEMO with eight points.

The JSU-UTM contest will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network with Mike Parris courtside.  Live video streaming will be available on the OVC Digital Network.