JACKSONVILLE – Jax State's women's basketball squad defeated Alabama-Huntsville 67-51 in an exhibition game on Tuesday afternoon. The Gamecocks took a three-point lead into the halftime break before getting hot from three-point range in the second half to eventually claim the victory.
"I think it was a mixed bag," head coach
Rick Pietri said. "I think we're clearly not aggressive enough on the offensive glass. To have 39 misses and only come up with five of them, I'll credit Coach (Allen) Sharpe he does a great job, and those kids did block us out and were aggressive about it. I think defensively, I think we were pretty doggone good. We did have some mistakes in some of our coverages, but I thought our coverages were good and it led to turnovers. I mean they turned it over 29 times."
The game got off to a rocky start offensively for both teams as the Gamecocks and Chargers combined for only eight made field goals in the first quarter. Jax State particularly struggled from range early on, hitting 2-of-14 from distance in the entire first half before heating up in the second half.
Eden Sample led the way for Jax State in points with 16. She was 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range, with most of her three pointers coming in the fourth quarter.
After the Gamecocks went 2-of-4 from three in the third quarter, they came alive in the fourth period hitting 5-8 from three and shooting 64.7% from the field in the final 10 minutes.
Kyera Thornsbury was lights out all game as she scored 13 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field, 2-of-2 from three, and 3-of-3 from the foul strike in her freshman debut.
Valentina Saric, another knockdown shooter Jax State added in the offseason, scored 12 points on 3-of-5 from the field, 2-of-4 from three, and 4-of-4 on free throw attempts.
Saric was also second on the team in rebounds with five.
Mya Barnes led the Red-and-White in rebounds with six. Veteran post player Bre Rhodes was the fourth Gamecock to reach double-figures in scoring, joining Saric with 12.
"We were shooting it miserably early," Pietri said. "Early, you can see, at halftime we were 2-of-14 from the arc, in the first quarter we were 3-of-17 from the field. I think it was early in the fourth when it started raining in a good way. {Sample} hit a couple,
Kyera Thornsbury hit a couple, and it went from being a one-point game to suddenly an 11. Eden has risen to the occasion and when you do that in my program, you get to keep playing."
Overall, Jax State was able to turn things around from their rough shooting start in the first half. The Gamecocks shot 24-of-62 (38.7%) from the field, 9-of-26 (34.6%) from three, and 10-of-11 (90.9%) from the free throw line. The Gamecocks collected 28 rebounds, 16 assists, 13 steals, forced a total of 29 turnovers, and had four blocks in the game.
Jax State will now set their sights on the regular season opener against Arizona State on Monday, Nov. 4. The Gamecocks will be visiting the Sun Devil, but the game will be broadcast, and live stats will be available at JaxStateSports.com.
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their Facebook (Jacksonville State Women's Basketball), Instagram (@JaxStateWBB), and X (@JaxStateWBB) accounts.
