JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team wasted no time taking advantage of its opportunity to finally play this season, defeating Georgia Southern, 70-58, in the season opener at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Wednesday afternoon.
 
The Gamecocks (1-0) showed little signs of rust from an interrupted offseason, and delayed start to the year. A fresh new lineup got up-and-down the floor for 75 shot attempts, 43 rebounds, scored 21 points off turnovers and assisted on 14 made baskets. In the process, JSU remained unbeaten at 6-0 on its home floor against the Eagles (0-1) from Statesboro, Georgia.
 
True freshman Keiara Griffin made the starting lineup in her first appearance for the Red and White out of Ramsay High in Birmingham. Meanwhile, five other Gamecocks made their debuts in juniors Imari Martin, Kennedy Gavin, Kaiya Burnett, Kyra Williams and redshirt-sophomore Regan Dargan. The fresh faces accounted for 15 points, led by Martin's eight off the bench. Gavin, a redshirt-junior transfer from Southern Miss was the only Gamecock with double-digit rebounds, finishing with 10 to set a new career high for her collegiate career.
 
While the newcomers made a strong first impression, it was the JSU veterans that carried the load for Rick Pietri's bunch. Junior Yamia Johnson's 16 points led the way ahead of senior Taylor Hawks' 10. Sophomore guard Nekiyah Thompson added nine points, while sophomore Winnie Kuimi notched a career best with eight.
 
GSU led 4-2 in the early minutes before Johnson and Hawks combined for three-straight triples to instantly propel JSU ahead, 11-4. The Gamecocks didn't shy away from the longball, tying a program record with 45 attempts from beyond the arc. The previous mark was set earlier this calendar year at Eastern Illinois on Jan. 16.
 
JSU led 20-8 following the opening period. The Eagle brought it back to within four midway through the second at 25-21, before a three from senior Kiana Johnson padded the lead again and helped send Jax State into the halftime intermission up 34-24.
 
The Eagles again trimmed the deficit back to four following a pair of free throws with just over six minutes to play in the third, but a 15-6 JSU run to finish out the stanza handed a sizable margin back to the home side heading to the fourth.
 
Overall, Jax State mounted a 30-10 stretch over 10 minutes of game time until deep into the final period making it 66-42 with a few minutes remaining. JSU's offense slowed down to not scoring over the final two minutes of action as the Eagles continued to push and bring the final score to 70-58.
 
The Gamecocks led for almost 38 minutes en route to their third season-opening victory in the last four years.