JACKSONVILLE – With more than a week gone since its last competition, the Jacksonville State women's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday evening at Alabama A&M in a 6 p.m. tip-off inside the T.M. Elmore Gym.
The Gamecocks (4-3) are coming off a 60-49 road win at Ole Miss on December 2, before entering a 10-day break for academic finals. Tuesday's road contest at AAMU marks the eighth-straight game away from campus for JSU to begin the 2018-19 season. With repairs wrapping up from the March 19 tornado, the Gamecocks will make their official home debut on Saturday hosting Georgia State.
The Bulldogs (2-5) have already met three members from JSU's Ohio Valley Conference, earning wins over Tennessee State and Murray State in the process. The SWAC foes have also been tested nationally with games at Illinois and Kansas. JSU will be the third-consecutive OVC opponent for AAMU, following a 75-58 setback to Austin Peay on Sunday.
Tuesday's matchup marks the 28th all-time meeting between the two schools where JSU leads the series, 15-12, however the Gamecocks have won 10 of the last 11 meetings since moving to Division I in 1995. A win at T.M. Elmore Gym would extend that series margin, but more significantly, would hand head coach
Rick Pietri career win No. 300.
Redshirt-senior Destiney Elliot's 14.1 points per game average leads the Gamecocks offensively, followed by senior
Rayven Pearson's 10.6 points. Pearson, a native of Hazel Green, Ala., is not far from averaging a double-double, bringing down 9.4 rebounds per contest for third-best in the OVC. The supporting cast of sophomore
Taylor Hawks and freshman
Yamia Johnson are scoring almost nine points per game, while
Chloe Long and
Jessie Day assist off the bench with 3.7 and 2.9 boards, respectively.
After being the first unranked team to hold Ole Miss below 50 points in a regular-season game since February of 2017, JSU leads the conference allowing just 54.6 points per game.
Live stats for Tuesday's 6 p.m. tip will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
