Jax State Women Earn 53-44 road win at SIUE - Jacksonville State University Athletics

Saturday, January 18

Edwardsville, IL

1 p.m.

Jax State

7-10,3-3OVC

SIU Edwardsville

3-14,1-5OVC

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Jacksonville St.	15	15	12	11	53
SIUE	10	8	9	17	44

1/18/2020 6:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

EDWARDSVILLE – Ill. – For the second-straight year, the Jacksonville State women's basketball team left Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a win following Saturday's 53-44 outcome.

The win brought the Gamecocks (7-10, 3-3 Ohio Valley Conference) back to .500 in league play, while the Cougars dropped to 3-14 overall and 1-5 in conference. It was the first back-to-back road wins over SIUE for Jax State since the two began meeting in 2011.

Graduate-senior Destiney Elliott led the scoring with a modest 11 points as offense wasn't the focal point of Saturday's contest. Freshman Nekiyah Thompson reached double-digit for the second-straight game finishing with 10 on 6-of-8 shooting from the free throw line. Redshirt-senior Chloe Long chipped in nine points, all in the first half.

While Long only grabbed two rebounds for the game, the slack was picked up by junior Taylor Hawks with a career-best nine boards, followed by Jessie Day with seven. The Gamecocks were still out-rebounded overall, 44-37, but managed to win for the first time all season when losing the rebound battle. One of the best defenses in the league held SIUE to 28-percent shooting at home, single-digit points in two quarters and just 1-for-13 from behind the perimeter.

With just over two minutes left in the opening period, JSU led 9-6 before back-to-back threes from Elliott and Hawks helped the Gamecocks lead 15-10 after one. A second chance putback by Karleigh Sledge in the second gave JSU a nine-point cushion at 21-12 before SIUE made a short run. The Cougars pulled within four midway through the period, but Jax State held the home team scoreless the final five minutes of the half to take a 30-18 lead into the intermission.

JSU had another strong defensive quarter in the third and extended its lead to 15 over the next 10 minutes. A pair of free throws by Thompson with under eight minutes remaining in the final stanza made it a 13-point JSU advantage, but SIUE turned on the full-court press and began to give the Gamecocks fits. The Cougars worked the margin down to five at 44-39 late in the period until Elliott buried a momentum-killing trey to give JSU a boost. McKenna Lawrence added a late steal and runout layup in the final stages to push the advantage back to double figures briefly before the Gamecocks won 53-44.