JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team finished the 2021 non-conference season 9-3 overall with a 61-51 win over Chattanooga Thursday night.

The win tied JSU's all-time non-conference win total in the D-1 era and set the D-1 program record for non-conference win percentage. Prior to this season, JSU's most successful non-conference campaign was in 2014-15 when the squad went 9-4 under Head Coach Rick Pietri.  

"I think that we had a good non-conference season," said Pietri. "If you would have asked me before it started 'Would you like to be 9-3 on Dec. 30?' I would have said 'Yes'. In terms of the overall result, I'm happy with it. Moving forward there are still some things we have to improve upon as we get into conference play."

Senior Imari Martin led the Gamecocks in scoring with 16 points while sophomore Keiara Griffin chipped in 10. Freshman Bre'Anna Rhodes added a career-high nine boards off the bench to lead JSU.

After falling behind 4-0 to begin the game, JSU used an 8-1 run in the final 4:01 of the first quarter to lead 17-12. Martin drilled her second three of the game to out JSU ahead 12-11, marking their first lead of the game and igniting the quarter-closing run.

The Mocs cut JSU's lead to two, 17-15 following a three-pointer just 30 seconds into the second quarter. A layup from sophomore Madison McCoy pushed the Gamecocks' lead to six, 21-15 at the 8:16 mark. Chattanooga once again trimmed JSU's lead, tying the
contest 21-21 with 5:20 remaining. Martin gave the lead back to the Gamecocks less than a minute later with a floater in the paint. A second-chance bucket for Johnson capped a 6-0 run and gave JSU its largest lead of the first half, 34-25 with 38 seconds to go. Senior Shawnta Shaw hit a free-throw in the final seconds to give the Gamecocks an eight-point lead, 35-27 at the half.

JSU opened the second half on a 6-0 run pushing the lead 41-27, the largest of the game, following a layup from Martin. A 4-0 run from the Mocs to close out the third quarter trimmed JSU's lead to seven, 48-41.
Chattanooga used a 5-0 run to open the fourth quarter, cutting JSU's lead to five, 45-50. A three-pointer from Kyra Williams at the 5:29 mark gave the Gamecocks a seven-point lead, 54-47. After nearly two scoreless minutes Martin drained her third three of the games and pushed the lead to 10, 57-47 with 3:38 remaining in the game. The Gamecocks would go on to win, 61-51.

JSU was outrebounded for just the fifth time this season, 41-35. The Gamecocks found a way to win, despite losing the battle on the boards, for the second time this season. JSU won the turnover comparison, 23-12, for the 12^th time this season. Thursday's game marked the sixth time this season that the Gamecocks have forced 20 or more turnovers. Neither side shot well from the floor in the contest, but a 35.3 percent clip (6-of-17) from three-point range for Jax State helped lift the side over the Mocs who shot just 14.3 percent from deep (1-of-7).

The Gamecocks allowed under 52 points from its opponents for the third straight game in the win and continue to boast one of the top defenses in the ASUN.
 
"I thought we started the second half really well, because I thought we started the game terribly," added Pietri. "We kind of pushed away from them in the second half and then they made a little run at us and got it all the way down to five, but we were able to make enough baskets and enough stops to push them back and make it a 10-point win."

JSU will open the ASUN season on Wednesday Jan. 5, in Pete Mathews Coliseum against Bellarmine at 6 p.m.  Stay up to date with JSU women's basketball at JSUGamecocksports.com and on social media @JSUGamecocks.