JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team hosts the University of Rhode Island in a 7 p.m. game at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Monday.
 
The Gamecocks (2-1) have started strong this season with a pair of blowout wins scoring plus-90 points for the first two times in the Rick Pietri era at JSU. The only loss came to nationally-ranked Florida State in a game where JSU trailed by only three at the half.
 
JSU's trademark stingy defense has held opponents to just 52 points per game in the early going, while the offense has shown a boost to begin the new season. JSU is averaging more than 82 points per game shooting 43-percent from the field.
 
Monday night's contest will be the first-ever meeting between Jax State and the Rams from South Kingston, R.I. URI (1-2) made its way down to Alabama last week where it lost to Samford on Friday night. JSU will be collecting canned foods for the Gamecock Food Pantry at the URI game, fans who bring a can to donate will receive a $5 admission ticket.  
 
Monday's action will be streamed on the OVC Digital Network, with live stats available on JSUGamecockSports.com.