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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team erased an Alcorn State double digit lead in the fourth quarter to prevail 67-65 over the Lady Braves on Tuesday at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.
 
After trading the lead with ASU during the first half, it took a three-point basket by junior guard Briana Benson with 34 seconds and a good defensive effort to seal Jax State two-point win.  The Gamecocks snapped a three-game losing streak and moved to 2-5 on the season.  ASU dropped to 1-3 on the year.
 
The Gamecocks trailed by as many as 12 with 6:54 remaining in the fourth quarter before a Courtney Strain jumper, a Gretchen Morrison layup and three-point basket made it a five-point game with 4:37 left. Following a Henrietta Wells layup to extend the Lady Braves' lead back to seven, Strain drained a three-point shot on back-to-back Gamecock possessions to cut the JSU deficit to one possession just over two minutes on the clock.  ASU finished the game 2-of-12 from the field.
 
JSU extended its string of consecutive games with a three pointer to 53 games dating back to January of 2014. 
 
Brianna Tolliver and Morrison traded baskets to set up Benson's go-ahead basket. The Jonesboro, Ga., native Benson made the back-end of two free throws the give Rick Pietri and his team a two-point cushion with four seconds left.
 
Despite only having seven available due to injuries, Pietri had five players in double figures in the scoring column as Morrison finished with 13 points, Strain added 12 points.  Senior Destiny James produced a career-high 12 while Benson and freshman Chloe Long both had 11 points.
 
It's the first time five Gamecock players have scored in double figures in a game since January 21^st, 2015 when Candace Morton (14), Strain (12), Benson (11), Destany McLin (10) and Tyler Phelion (10) accomplished the feat against Belmont.
 
Kelly Naughton had six points while Rayven Pearson added two but brought down six rebounds. Long had a team-high seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.
 
For ASU, Norianna L. Haynes produced a game-high 26 points on 10-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from behind the arc, to go along with a game-high nine rebounds in 36 minutes for the Lady Braves. She also had two steals. Tolliver was the lone other Alcorn State player in double figures as she had 11 points and six rebounds. Briana Luton had six points while Talisa Sherman added five. Henrietta Wells, Ashtin McNichols and Day Russell all had four points while Wells brought down nine rebounds. Tori Danielle Spann and Lauren Turner had three and two points respectively.
 
JSU overcame a sluggish third quarter to outscore the Braves 21-12 during the final quarter. The Gamecocks also outscored their opposition 21-17 during the first quarter. JSU shot a crisp 50 percent during the first half, before fighting through a 36.4 shooting percent during the second half.
 
Pietri and company will return to action Friday night at Georgia Southern with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.