JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State women's basketball team clinched a first-round bye in the ASUN Conference tournament with a 62-53 win over Lipscomb on Thursday evening.
"It's a big deal for a couple reasons. For one, it means after our last game we won't play for eight days," said Head Coach Rick Pietri. "It gives us some time to recover and have a few days off so that we can be fresher for the quarterfinal round of the tournament in our own building."

The win marked the 19^th win of the season for JSU (19-6), tying the D-I era single-season wins record in program history, previously set in the 2017-18 season.
"I think it's meaningful but honestly for this team, once we got going, the goal has been to get to 20 since it hasn't been done before," added Pietri. "One more win would not only get us 20 but it would give us the division crown so that would be very meaningful if we could do that."

Senior Imari Martin led the way with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Junior Nekiyah Thompson added 12 points and finished 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. Martin reached the 100-career three-pointer milestone in Thursday's win, becoming the second-fastest player and 15^th player in program history to reach the feat.

The Gamecocks held a significant advantage from the free-throw line shooting 18-of-21. The Bisons were perfect from the charity stripe but attempted just seven.

"They fouled us a lot. When we took it to the basket we got hit and we took advantage of those free-throws. At the end of the game, they fouled to try and extend the game and give themselves a chance, we made them all, I think, we may have missed one. That kept them at bay and allowed us to hold on for the win. Free-throw shooting was a big deal tonight."

JSU picked up just its fifth win of the season when being outrebounded. Lipscomb bested the Gamecocks 36-34 on the boards and 8-5 on the offensive glass.

JSU used a hot-shooting first quarter to take an early lead over the Bisons. Imari Martin quickly drained her 100^th career-three pointer, less than five minutes into the game, to become the second-fastest player in program history to achieve the feat. The Gamecocks shot 47.1 percent from the field in the first quarter behind seven points from Martin. JSU led 18-16 after the first quarter and carried the hot shooting into the second, starting three-for-three from the floor on a 6-0 run. The Gamecocks struggled from the field the rest of the quarter, shooting 0-4, but held a six-point lead at the break, 28-22, in part to a defensive effort that forced 10 Lipscomb turnovers and held the Bisons just 37 percent from the field.

After some shooting woes in the latter half of the second quarter JSU continued to struggle at times from the field in the third. JSU outscored the Bisons 18-13 in the third quarter which included seven points from the free-throw line. A three-pointer from Kaiya Burnett at the 1:17 mark of the third ended a nearly three-minute drought from the floor and put the Gamecocks ahead 41-35. A buzzer beating layup off a Lipscomb turnover by Kyra Williams at the buzzer put JSU up 11 at the end of the quarter. After over two scoreless minutes to begin the fourth quarter, senior Shawnta Shaw added to JSU's lead and put the Gamecocks up by 14, the largest lead of the game, following a three-pointer at the 7:11 mark. An 8-1 run from Lipscomb cut the lead to four, 55-51 with 2:22 remaining in the game, but five free-throws down the stretch helped secure the win, 62-53.

With just three regular season games remaining, the Gamecocks hold a three-game lead over North Alabama for first place in the West Division. A win in any of the next three games or a UNA loss would clinch a West Division Championship and place the Gamecocks as a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. As the regular season winds down the Gamecocks are also chasing their 20^th win of the season which would set the all-time single season wins record of the D-I era in program history.

Up next, the Gamecocks will close out the final road trip of the season at Bellarmine on Sunday Feb. 20, at 1 p.m. in Freedom Hall. A win on Sunday would clinch the ASUN West Division Championship for JSU.