JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's women's basketball team closed its regular season with a 60-44 win over Austin Peay at home on Saturday, and now sets its sights on next week's Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
 
With the win, JSU (15-8, 12-7 OVC) matched the 2017-18 squad with 12 OVC wins in a season, and also knocked the Lady Govs (12-10, 10-8 OVC) back to seventh in the standings after APSU entered the day with a chance to finish as high as fourth.
 
Junior Yamia Johnson had 14 points in the opening quarter on her way to a team-high 19 for the game. Senior Taylor Hawks added 12 on the day JSU's four senior members were honored pregame, tying Jolie Efezokhae (2006-10) and Briana Benson (2014-17) for fourth all-time with her 57th double-digit scoring games.
 
Behind Johnson's hot start, JSU led 27-11 after the first period. The total matched the highest scoring quarter for JSU all year, also putting up 27 in the third at Morehead State on Jan. 9, and is tied for the fifth-best offensive quarter for JSU since women's basketball moved to quarters in 2015-16.
 
JSU led by 21 at halftime, 39-18, before the Lady Govs mounted their best rally of the afternoon. APSU opened the third on a 12-2 run to cut it to 11 at the 5:11 mark following a Sawyer Ellis trey. JSU layups from Kennedy Gavin and Jessie Day brought an end to the momentum as the contest moved to the final quarter.
 
The lead would grow to as much as 17 again in the fourth after Day buried a three-pointer before the final 60-44 decision. The OVC's best scoring defense bounced back from allowing 78 on Thursday's to giving up the third-fewest points in a game all year against APSU.
 
JSU's senior class of Hawks, Day, Jayla Walker and Kiana Johnson will lead the Gamecocks into the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana next week for the fourth-straight year. This is the only class to reach four consecutive OVC tournaments during JSU's 18-year membership from 2003-2021.
 
Jax State earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament field following Saturday's results and will face No. 5 Tennessee Tech (14-9, 12-8 OVC) at 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 4. The Gamecocks and Golden Eagles split the two regular-season meetings, both winning on their respective home courts.