NASHVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team registered its 15
th win of the season for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign with a convincing 63-50 win on the road at Tennessee State on Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference action on Saturday evening.
JSU now has won three consecutive OVC contests and moved to 6-4 in the league. The 13-point win in Music City also snapped a three-game losing skid in conference games on the road. JSU opened the month of January with a win at SIU Edwardsville and closed the first month of the year with an important road win. Jax State has now won two straight from the Lady Tigers, who fall to 8-12 overall and 5-4 in OVC play. TSU ended the three-game homestand with a trio of losses to Belmont, UT Martin and JSU. The 13-point win is the largest margin of victory over the Blue and White on its home floor since an 82-47 win on January 30, 2006. The win also snapped a three-game losing streak to TSU in games played at the Gentry Center. The last time JSU turned in a double-digit road win in the OVC was back in December of 2007 as it won at UTM, 71-58.
TSU entered the contest averaging over 66 points per game, but the Lady Tigers never sniffed that mark with solid defense from JSU and shooting woes in the second half. TSU closed out the game hitting just 2-of-16 from the field and did not get a basket in the final 3:05 of the game. After JSU saw its three-point, 33-30, lead diminish and trail by as many as four points, 39-35, after a three-point basket by TSU's Rachel Allen, JSU had back-to-back jumpers on two straight trips to even the contest. After the two teams traded three pointers to tie the game for the sixth and final time, senior
Candace Morton connected on a jumper at the 12:27 mark to give the Gamecocks the lead – one of which they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Including Morton's basket, the Red and White would put together a 14-3 scoring run over a six-minute span that would be capped off by one of two critical three-point baskets by senior
Courtney Strain. Strain's basket gave JSU its first double digit lead of the contest. TSU would get as close as eight points after a trey by Jemilah Leonard with 4:24 left in the game. From the start of the run to the final buzzer, JSU limited the Lady Tigers to eight points over the final 12:50. TSU was 7-of-29 from the field in the second half, while JSU was slightly better at 12-of-28 in the final 20 minutes.
Jax State's second half was fueled by junior
Destany McLin's 12 points. In the second half, the Athens, Alabama-native was 5-of-9 from the field and finished with a game-high 16 points. McLin has now scored in double figures in 16 of the 22 games this season and nine in the 10 OVC contests, including the last eight games. Morton paced the Gamecocks in the opening half with 11 of her 14 points.
The Jax State bench was a contributor as it accounted for 25 of the 63 points. Sophomore
Kelly Naughton matched her career high with eight first half points, including a pair of treys. Freshman
Gretchen Morrison also equaled her career high with nine points, all coming from long range. Her scoring came at a critical time as she silenced a 13-2 TSU scoring fun to help JSU erase TSU's largest lead of seven points. Senior
Miranda Cantrell did not get in the scoring column, but led the Gamecocks with seven rebounds. JSU had the rebounding edge, 41-40.
For the last three games, the Gamecocks have been solid from three-point range with eight or more treys in the last three games. After knocking down nine on Wednesday against Eastern Kentucky, JSU drilled eight from behind the arc. In the last four games, JSU has made 33 from beyond the arc, while limiting the opposition to just 15 made-treys. TSU, who led the OVC with 11.4 steals per game was held to four against JSU.
TSU had three players in double figures, led by Imani Davis' 11 points. Chelsea Hudson and Allen added 10 points each.
The Gamecocks will be idle until next Saturday as they will travel to Cookeville, Tenn. for a 5:30 p.m. contest against the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech.
