MARTIN, Tenn. – After trailing by as many as 18 in the second half, the Jacksonville State women's basketball team fought all the way back to make it a tight contest late, before falling 77-72 to UT Martin.
 
The loss dropped JSU to 10-12 overall and 4-7 in Ohio Valley Conference action, while the Skyhawks (16-6, 8-3) remain in the hunt near the top of the league standings. Although the last three meetings now have been eventful, the Gamecocks are still searching for their first victory over UTM since Feb. 11, 2010.
 
JSU's last visit to the Elam Center in 2016 saw a program-record 16 made three-pointers, unfortunately, Thursday's contest racked another stat column. Despite a strong second-half comeback, Jax State's 29 turnovers were the most by the Gamecocks in the last three seasons, surpassing the 28 at Alcorn State in 2016-17, and 26 at New Orleans last year.
 
Highlighting the tough road loss was senior Rayven Pearson's career-high 19 points as one of three Gamecocks in double figures. Destiney Elliott finished with 18, while Taylor Hawks added 12. Additionally, Kiana Johnson's nine points scored marked a season best, and first-year junior Brittany Webster's eight points were a also a career mark.
 
After JSU took a quick 6-2 lead out of the gate, the Skyhawks turned up the pressure with a full-court press that led to a 15-2 run over the next two and a half minutes, forcing a Gamecock timeout. JuToreyia Willis and Webster sank consecutive buckets to break UTM's momentum as JSU was able to cut the lead to five at the end of the opening stanza.
 
Despite giving up the most first-quarter points its allowed this season, JSU's 22-17 deficit was trimmed to two early in the second period after a corner trey from Elliott to make it 24-22. From there, UTM used an 8-0 run to stretch the lead back to 10 with 4:13 to play until the half. The Skyhawks added a pair of triples before the intermission to lead 41-28 heading into the locker room.
 
Down 15 at 52-37 midway through the third, JSU began to slowly chip away at the deficit. Between miscues and missed opportunities, JSU evenly worked it back to a single-digit contest on Hawks three-pointer with under a minute to go in the quarter to make it 55-47.
 
The lead was stretched back to a dozen early in the fourth and remained that way until nearly the five-minute mark when Elliott's trey brought JSU within nine. The Oneonta, Ala., product buried her final triple with just over two minutes left to cut it to a five-point game. After both sides exchanged buckets, UTM was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Hawks with 21 seconds left.
 
JSU would get two free throws, which Hawks hit, and the ball following the penalty. Trailing 76-72, freshman Yamia Johnson got a good look from three that would've brought JSU back within one, but the shot rimmed out and UTM managed to hold on.
 
The Gamecocks now head west for Southeast Missouri with a 2 p.m. game against a Redhawk squad that improved to 6-4 in the OVC on Thursday with a victory over Tennessee Tech.