MOREHEAD, Ky. – Senior
Ki-Ki Patterson's rebound and layup in the closing seconds propelled the Jacksonville State women's basketball team from a double-digit, second-half deficit to a last-second 67-65 win on the road at Morehead State, Thursday afternoon.
JSU avenged a tough 85-82 road loss at Johnson Arena that came in last year's season finale, and played a part in the Gamecocks missing postseason play. Dating back to the end of last season, Jax State has now won nine of its last 11 games against OVC opponents, and sits second in the league standings nearing the halfway mark of this season.
Although Patterson's final two points caught most of the attention, she was 4-of-5 from the field overall in the final period with nine points. She proved to be the late spark JSU needed to rally for its third road win of the year.
Patterson matched
Kiana Johnson for a team-high 12 points total. Johnson's dozen matched the freshman's career high which also came against MSU back on Dec. 30. Freshman
Taylor Hawks recorded nine points, followed by
Rayven Pearson and
Tasha Magruder with eight apiece. Pearson also led JSU with 10 rebounds in her 11th game this season with double-digit boards.
The Gamecocks (12-6, 6-1 Ohio Valley Conference) trailed 35-25 entering the third quarter against the Eagles (13-7, 4-3 OVC) who shot 52 percent in the first half. JSU benefitted from a three-pointer by
Leah Strain in the final minute of the second quarter to erase MSU's largest lead of 13 at 35-22.
From that point, JSU flipped the switch at halftime and came out on fire to begin the third quarter. Johnson and Pearson had consecutive inside baskets, before Hawks buried back-to-back triples to even the score at 35 less than three minutes into the period. Going back to Strain's trey it marked a 13-0 run for JSU which soon stretched to a 20-2 streak, handing the Gamecocks a 42-37 advantage.
The Eagles managed to stop JSU's momentum and evened the score against at 48 heading into the fourth quarter. JSU grabbed an early 52-50 lead in the final period before running into a 4:52 dry-spelled that saw MSU escape out to a 59-52 lead. Patterson's running jumper ended the drought, and she followed it up with a corner three fed by Strain to cut it to a two-point contest.
With 1:29 remaining, a bucket from
Tyler Phelion gave JSU a one-point lead. Phelion later padded the cushion with a pair of free throws with 14 seconds to play to make it 65-62. MSU's Eriel McKee hit her only three-point attempt of the night in the Eagle's final possession to knot things up at 65 with 7.7 ticks left on the clock.
On JSU's final play,
Chloe Long came up short on a runner across the paint, but Phelion was there to put the ball back up. MSU's got a hand on the the putback sending it into the waiting hands of Patterson who made JSU's game-winning basket on the third attempt. Originally 0.3 seconds remained, but after review the referees placed 0.7 for MSU's final inbounds, but the Eagles were unsuccessful in getting off an attempt.
JSU shot 53 percent in the second half, and held MSU to just 27 percent and only nine field goals. MSU's Darianne Seward led the Eagles with 20 points, but recorded just two in the second half.
The Gamecocks remain in the Bluegrass State to face Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky., on Saturday.
