SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Jacksonville State's struggles on the road continued on Saturday with a 66-54 loss to Wofford College at the Benjamin Johnson Arena in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The loss was the Gamecocks' third straight and fifth of the season. The Terriers of Wofford earned their first win of the season with the 12-point win and the first against Jax State after falling to last season in Jacksonville.
Even though sophomore guard
Gretchen Morrison set her career high in points for the third time this season with 15 points, it wasn't enough for JSU to earn the road win. Morrison caught fire in the second period with nine of her 15 points in the period as she drilled consecutive treys on three straight trips down the floor to give the Gamecocks their largest lead of the contest at 32-27 with 4:50 left in the second period. The Terriers erased the deficit with just under two minutes left in the session after Amoshia Blakeney capped off a 13-8 scoring run to hold a 33-32 lead. Wofford would take a 37-34 lead into the halftime break.
The Gamecocks were solid from three-point range as half of their 18-made field goals were from long distance. JSU connected on 9-of-25 from beyond the three-point arc in the contest and hit six of those in the first 20 minutes. Morrison hit a career-high five treys, while
Kelly Naughton made a career-high three from behind the arc.
The long range shots were not falling for JSU in the second half, which sparked the Terriers to a 16-point third quarter and limiting JSU to just seven points in the third quarter. Morrison hit a three-point basket along with field goals by freshmen
Chloe Long and
Rayven Pearson. Wofford pushed the lead out to double figures at the 4:11 mark of the third quarter after a Peyton Walker lay up. Jax State's deficit was 12 points after third quarters at 53-41.
The Gamecocks scored the first seven points of the final quarter to trim the lead down to six points at 53-47 after a pair of
Rayven Pearson free throws. That would be as close as JSU would get after the Terriers extended the lead back out to double digits at 60-50 with just under four minutes left in the contest. Wofford took its largest lead of the game at 66-51 with 1:56 left to play.
Wofford finished 25-of-58 from the field on the afternoon, while limiting JSU to just 33 percent from the field. The Terriers had a 41-33 advantage on the boards and scored 28 points in the paint. The Terrier bench keyed the win with a 37-point effort from the non-starters. Jordan Frazier turned in 12 points off the bench, while Chloe Walker added 10 points.
Morrison was one of three Gamecocks to reach double figures in the scoring column. She was joined by Long and Naughton. Long, who made her first career start in place of
Tyler Phelion, tallied 12 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Naughton turned in her second double digit contest of the season with 12 points. Pearson nearly was the fourth Gamecock in double figure scoring totals with nine points. She shared team-high rebounding honors with Long as both pulled down seven boards.
JSU's leading scorer
Briana Benson was held to just two points, while
Destiny James added four points.
The Gamecocks return to Pete Mathews Coliseum on Tuesday, December 1, hosting the Braves of Alcorn State. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m. and will precede the JSU men's contest against Samford. The hoops twinbill will be a 'White Out' sponsored by Sorrell Dental and the JSU Student Government Association. Fans are encouraged to 'White out the Pete'.
