CONWAY, S.C. – Jacksonville State faced their second consecutive loss in their second straight road game Saturday afternoon against Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers defeated Jax State 55-44 at the HTC Center in Conway.
With the loss, Jax State is 4-3 on the year, while Coastal Carolina improves to 6-1. The Gamecocks struggled to find an offensive rhythm as they made 27.9% of their field goal attempts and only hit two threes. Jax State was averaging 10.7 three-pointers made heading into the matchup with Coastal. Jax State was better at the free-throw line as they made 8-11 attempts. Prior to Saturday, Jax State was making only 58.3% of their free-throws.
"I thought we were competitive in the first half," head coach
Rick Pietri said. "Could have been down three, had a bad break at the end of the half that put us down five. I thought in the third quarter we just did not respond. We talked about the fact that they literally pride themselves on being a second half team and we didn't respond to it locked in and they punched us in the mouth in the third quarter. That was disappointing."
Samiya Steele led the way in scoring for Jax State with 11 points on 5-7 shooting. Steele also had two rebounds and a steal.
Bre'Anna Rhodes joined Steele in double-digit scoring with 10 points, respectively. Rhodes added five rebounds and a steal.
The Gamecocks were only down by five at the halftime break, but Coastal came out the locker room determined in the third quarter to extend their lead to 50-34 heading into the fourth. Jax State was able to hold the Chanticleers to only five points in the final 10 minutes, but cold shooting, particularly from three-point range, led the Gamecocks to only adding 10 points in the period.
The Gamecocks made 38.46% of their field goals in the opening quarter and made only one of seven attempts from the arc. Jax State ended the first quarter down 13-15 before a nine-point scoring run early in the second quarter forced a Coastal Carolina timeout. Out of the timeout, the two teams went back-and-forth before a buzzer beating jump shot gave the Chanticleers a 26-31 advantage heading into halftime. Jax State's last lead of the game came with 4:51 remaining in the second as the Gamecocks grabbed a three-point 24-21 advantage.
In the third, Coastal turned the intensity up as they went on a 10-point scoring run nearly midway through the quarter. The Chanticleers grabbed a 16-point lead at the 5:21 mark in the third and never lost the lead again.
Jax State got within seven points as they cut Coastal Carolina's lead to 51-44 at the 3:25 mark in the fourth quarter. A Chanticleer layup off an offensive rebound gave them a nine-point advantage with just under three minutes remaining in the game. Jax State battled but could never get any closer as the game drew to its close.
"The fourth quarter, I thought our team really competed," Pietri added. "Defended the way we needed to defend; we had open perimeter looks we just didn't make them. If we could've made just a few, because we made almost none, if we would've made just a few maybe the outcomes different. I thought we competed the way we needed to in the fourth quarter, we dug ourselves too deep a hole after the third, and we just couldn't hit any perimeter shots and that was really what killed us."
The Gamecocks return home for a showdown against College of Charleston on Wednesday, Dec. 11. The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. tip off and will be streaming on ESPN+, live stats will be available at JaxStateSports.com, and tickets are available at JaxStateSports.com.
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