FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Jacksonville State University women's basketball team's historic run in the ASUN Championship Tournament fell short with a loss to Florida Gulf Coast, 69-54, on Saturday evening in Alico Arena.
 
Despite the loss, JSU's historic 24-7 season is not finished as the Gamecocks will represent the ASUN in the WNIT as the league's automatic qualifier. The WNIT bracket will be announced on Monday Mar. 14, the day after the NCAA Tournament bracket is released.
 
Senior's Kiana Johnson and Kennedy Gavin were named to the ASUN All-Tournament Team following the loss and led JSU with 13 points each. Johnson averaged 17.6 points per game during the tournament while Gavin scored 11.3 per game.
 
"Kiana has been sensational this entire tournament. She's in her last year and I can't say enough about what she gave to us in this particular run," said Head Coach Rick Pietri. "Kennedy has been nice for us too during this run and I'm happy for her to get that honor, it's well deserved."
 
JSU got out to fast start to begin the game and outscored FGCU 19-16 in the first quarter. At halftime, the Gamecocks held a 32-30 lead. Prior to Saturday's loss, JSU was 17-0 when leading at halftime. The Gamecocks led by as many as six in the first half and for over 12 minutes. Imari Martin scored nine points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting from the field. As a team, JSU shot 45 percent in the first half and held FGCU to just 39.4 percent.
 
In the third quarter, a jumper from Johnson put JSU up 39-38 with 6:43 remaining. FGCU responded with a 5-0 run to lead 43-39 and controlled the game the rest of the way. The Eagles outscored JSU 21-14 in the third and 18-8 in the fourth quarter to win, 69-54.
 
"It's been a great year to this point and we are not done playing. We are going to be in the WNIT and we are excited about that opportunity," added Pietri. "We faced a team today that frankly on paper is better than we are and played better than we did. I thought we played great in the first half and had a lead at halftime. The thing was, FGCU, when their back was against the wall they turned it up and we weren't able to match it. They turned their defensive energy up and they made shots so it was a bad combination for us. We hung in there, it was 59-52 and we had a couple of opportunities to cut it back down to five and weren't able to convert. They hit a three after that and it just kept rolling downhill for us. I think our kids competed and gave effort, we just weren't able to win."
 
JSU shot 37.7 percent from the floor in the game and FGCU shot 45.2 percent. The Eagles edged the Gamecocks in turnovers, 12-8. There were 12 leads changes and seven ties in the game. JSU led for 15 minutes in the contest while the home side held a lead for 20 minutes.
 
Stay up to date with JSU women's basketball at JSUGamecocksports.com and on social media @JSUGamecocksWBB to see where the Gamecocks will play in the WNIT tournament.