JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State had five players score in double figures to earn its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season with a 60-62 decision over Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The Gamecocks close out the first weekend of OVC competition at 1-1 in the league and 6-8 overall, while EIU's struggles continued and dropped to 1-13 on the season and 0-2 after the first weekend in the league.

Freshman Chloe Long led the five Jax State players in scoring with her second-best scoring output of the season with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting.  The Hazel Green, Alabama post player was one rebound shy of her first career double-double.  She also dished out three assists in her 31 minutes of action.  Long has started OVC play with back-to-back double figure games after registering 10 points on Thursday against SIU Edwardsville. 

It was Long coupled with senior Courtney Strain that ignited the Gamecocks early in the contest.  JSU opened the game with a 23-9 lead after the first 10 minutes and never trailed in the contest.  The tandem combined for 21 of JSU's 32 first half points as Long dropped 12 in the first 20 minutes and Strain posting nine of her final 12 points in the first half.  The Woodland, Alabama product was 4-of-5 from the field, including a three pointer in the opening half.

After holding an 11-point, 32-21 lead at the halftime break, JSU knew EIU would make a run and get back in the contest.  The Panthers sliced the double figure lead down to five points at 37-32 with 2:07 left in the third quarter after starting the quarter on an 11-5 scoring run.  EIU would get within a basket at 37-34 at the 1:42 mark of the period before Stain's trey would push the JSU out to eight points with just under a minute left.

JSU expanded the lead out to double figures on Briana Benson's three pointer with 7:08 left to play.  Benson would match the halftime lead of 11 points with a free throw to make it 53-45 at the 4:57 mark.  EIU put together a final run to get within four points with 2:04 left to play, but could not get closer as JSU closed out the contest to take the eight-point win.  Benson became the fifth Gamecock to score double figures with a pair of free throws in the final seconds to record 10 point for the game.

The Jax State inside game controlled the contest with 28 points in the paint, led by sophomore Tyler Phelion and Rayven Pearson.  Phelion tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, while Pearson finished with 11 points.  Pearson turned in six of her points in the second half.

The last time JSU had five players reach double figures in a contest was just over a year ago as five Gamecocks scored double digits on January 1, 2015 at SIUE.  The Gamecocks also controlled the backboard with a season-high 44 rebounds and out-rebounded the Panthers by 11.  For the second consecutive game, JSU shot over 45 percent as it connected on 46.2 percent from the field.

Shakita Cox led EIU with 12 points, followed by Grace Lennox's 10 points.

JSU's first OVC road test will be Thursday, January 7 in Clarksville, Tennessee against Austin Peay, followed by a Saturday afternoon contest at Murray State on January 9.  Tip off at APSU is set for 5:15 p.m.