JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State assisted on 19 on its 31 made field goals as the Gamecocks ran away in the second half for a 75-46 win over Clark Atlanta at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
 
JSU (4-5) put the brakes on a quick two-game skid, remaining unbeaten on its home floor with the big win over the Atlanta-based Panthers (2-7). JSU gave the ball away a season-low six times while forcing 18 turnovers by CAU, leading to a 23-2 point differential off turnovers.
 
JSU spread the wealth as 10 of the 11 Gamecocks to play found the scoring column, the majority of which came off assists. Graduate senior Destiney Elliott had a team-high five assists, but was on the receiving end of plenty of those with a game-high 16 points and a new career-best 12 rebounds, all coming at the defensive end of the court.
 
Also rewriting a new career high was junior Jayla Walker with 13 points, just over a week after setting her previous mark of 12 against Northern Kentucky. Junior Kiana Johnson finished with nine, just ahead of Nekiyah Thompson and Taylor Hawks with eight apiece.
 
Elliott started fast with an 8-2 lead following back-to-back triples from Elliott. After Walker added a couple of jumpers, the Gamecock led 19-7 after the opening quarter. A layup by Brittany Webster made it a 23-7 advantage for JSU early in the second, but the Panthers buckled down and began to close the gap heading toward halftime. After a pair of three-pointers, CAU cut the deficit back to eight, and after another basket brought the score to 26-20 at the under-five minute break. Hawks hit a couple of jumpers down the stretch to grow JSU's lead back to double-digits heading into halftime.
 
Up 37-26 to begin the third, JSU struggled to put CAU away in the early minutes of the second half. The Panthers converted an old-fashion three-point-play almost four minutes into the half to bring it back to an eight-point game at 41-33, but that's as close as it would get.
 
A three-ball by the freshman Thompson sent JSU back up by 11 and sparked a 17-4 run to end the period and put CAU away for good going into the final quarter. The Gamecocks slowed the pace to just 17 points, its lowest of any period, in the final 10 minutes, but limited CAU to just nine to secure the 75-46 victory.
 
Rick Pietri's squad will take a week off from competition now, returning to the court next on Dec. 20 in a 6 p.m. showdown with Jacksonville University at The Pete.