Box Score HUNTSVILLE—Jax State was able to shrug off some outside shooting woes and grind out a double overtime victory over UTEP to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2026 Air National Guard Conference USA Basketball Championship.
 
The Gamecocks went 7-of-13 from the field in the two extra sessions to come away with an 82-77 victory over tenth-seeded UTEP for their first postseason win since defeating Liberty in the ASUN semifinal in 2022.  
 
The game was tied seven time in the first 19 minutes of play. Jax State went 2:23 without a point after a Brooklyn McDaniel tip in with 3:13 left to tie the game at 23, but only fell behind by four and trailed 27-24 at the intermission.
 
McDaniel finished with a double-double effort of 17 points and 10 rebounds. She was 7-of-12 from the field, helping the Gamecocks enjoy a 46-30 advantage in points in the paint.
 
Five of their nine misses in the first quarter came from beyond the 3-point line, but outrebounded UTEP 12-6 in the first quarter and held the Miners without an offensive board.
 
In the third, UTEP took an eight-point lead with 5:12 left on a 3-pointer by Heaven Samayoa-Mathis and a layup off an offensive rebound by Ndack Mbengue, then pushed it to 10 with a triple by Samayoa-Mathis with 3:57 left.
 
Mya Barnes was able to get it to six with 26 seconds left in the third after McDaniel hit a layup on the previous Jax State possession to make it 46-40 to start the fourth.
 
A 9-2 run to start the final 10 minutes of regulation gave the Gamecocks the lead on a layup off an offensive rebound by McDaniel with 6:32 left, then a UTEP turnover led to a layup by Adriana Jones to make it 51-48 Gamecocks with 6:12 left.
 
Jones had 13 points and four assists.
 
Kyera Thornsbury gave the Gamecocks a five-point advantage with 2:42 left when she came away with a steal and turned it into a layup at the other end.
 
Thornsbury had 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Miners tied the game with 1:28 left on a three-pointer by Tatiana Collazo. Neither team was able to convert a go-ahead shot on their final possession.
 
In the first overtime period, neither team led by more than two and the game was tied at four different points, including a free throw by McDaniel with 53 second left to send the game to a second OT. On the next possession, Barnes swatted a potential go-ahead layup at the other end.
 
The Gamecocks never trailed in the second OT and used a 5-0 run to take an 81-74 lead with eight seconds to go.
 
Six players played at least 30 minutes and three played at least 40 with Barnes and McDaniel playing 47 each. Barnes scored nine of her 17 in overtime.
 
Adriana Jones was also in double figures with 13 points, going 7-of-8 at the free throw line.
 
"We're going to get a lot of rest," said coach Rick Pietri of the plan going forward. "Usually, we'd spend some time going over our opponent tonight but I have to make some decisions on what is going to physically give our kids the best chance to win."
 
The Gamecocks will take on second-seeded FIU Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Propst Arena.