JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's women's basketball team held on for a 72-67 win over Florida A&M on Saturday afternoon at Pete Mathews Coliseum to pick up its first win of the season.
 
The Gamecocks (1-1) were coming off a season-opening loss to Vanderbilt on Tuesday, but that behind them early racing out to an early lead in the first home contest of the year. The Rattlers (0-2) proved much tougher that last season's 31-point win in Tallahassee, but were unable to slow down a revamped Gamecock offense.
 
The junior duo of Taylor Hawks and Kiana Johnson accounted for 33 of JSU's points. Hawks led offensively with 17 points, while Johnson poured in a new career-best 16. Both pitched in eight free-throws as JSU managed to reach the stripe 43 times, but struggled at just 38-percent shooting with only 25 made freebies. Redshirt-junior Jessie Day added 12 points as the third Gamecock to reach double figures.
 
For the second-straight game, Destiney Elliott gathered a team-high in rebounds with eight, just ahead of Hawks and Chloe Long with seven apiece. Elliott, who had 18 points in the opener, had eight against FAMU, but added a pair of steals and assists.
 
The Rattlers jumped out a 7-0 lead, but it would be mostly JSU for the remainder of the period. A three-ball by Elliott evened things up at 11, and the Gamecocks would go on to put up 22 in the first quarter to lead 22-15. FAMU cut into the deficit in the second, outscoring Jax State but eight to trim the halftime margin to just one at 34-33.
 
JSU slowly pulled back away in the third and reached a double-digit lead for the first time at 53-43 on a pair of Yamia Johnson free-throws. The sophomore finished with seven points in seven minutes of action.
 
With just under six minutes remaining in the fourth, FAMU drained a pair of free throws to pull within four at 61-57. A three-minute scoring drough for the visitors helped JSU regain an eight-point advantage, but first-year head coach Kevin Lynum's team would go away easily. A three-pointer brought the Rattlers back within five with 90 seconds remaining. After JSU missed a set of free throws with under a minute to go, FAMU hit two to pull within two at 69-67, forcing a Gamecock timeout.
 
On the final two possessions the JSU defense denied FAMU and the Gamecocks added three final free throws in the closing seconds courtesy of Hawks to seal the 72-67 win.
 
JSU remains at home where it will welcome Lipscomb to Pete Mathews Coliseum for an 11:30 a.m. tip-off on Tuesday for JSU's Kid's Day.