MIAMI, Fla. – Jax State women's basketball earned a hard-fought 70-67 road victory over Florida International Thursday night. The Gamecocks had four in double-digits in the triumph.
Brooklyn McDaniel led the way for Jax State with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and added six rebounds to her stat line.
Mya Barnes notched her fourth double-double of the season scoring 11 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
Adriana Jones scored 14 points, and
Makala Hobdy scored 10, respectively.
The Gamecocks shot an efficient 24-of-56 from the floor and were impressive beyond the arc knocking down 12-of-26 shots from range. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks defense held FIU to 36.8% shooting from the floor and only 5-of-18 from three.
Early on, FIU got up 7-0 before McDaniel hit back-to-back layups to put the Gamecocks on the board. Barnes drilled a three at the six-minute mark of the first to put Jax State in front 9-7. The Gamecocks never lost the lead once capturing it. Jax State went up by as many as 16-9 in the first, but the Panthers cut it to 18-16 heading into the second.
FIU hit a layup to open the second quarter to tie at 18-18, but Jax State eventually went up 36-26 with 3:20 left in the half capped by a Barnes made three. However, FIU would not go away as they closed the second quarter on a 12-3 run to only be trailing Jax State 39-38 at the half.
Jax State's largest lead of the game was 11 after a pair of Maria Sanchez-Ponce free throws made it 55-44 in favor of Jax State. FIU again responded, cutting it to 55-50 by the end of the third. FIU carried the momentum into the fourth and made it 58-56 with 6:54 left in the game. Sanchez-Ponce and McDaniel hit consecutive layups to extend Jax State's lead to 65-57 just under the midway point through the fourth.
FIU made a layup off a Jax State turnover cutting it to 65-64 with 1:53 on the clock. McDaniel made a layup, then Hobdy made three of her last four free throws to help the Gamecocks hold the lead and clinch the victory.
Jax State had five players play more than 30 minutes.
Eden Sample and Sanchez-Ponce both scored eight points in the win.
Denika Lightbourne led FIU with 25 points.
Jax State moves on to face Missouri State on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
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