March 4, 2011

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. - After storming out to an early 15 point lead the Coastal Carolina women's basketball team would have to endure four ties and four lead changes before finally putting away Charleston Southern, 61-58 on senior night at the CSU Field House.

Coastal Carolina (10-18, 4-12 Big South) was led by senior Sydnei Moss with a season-high 23 points. Moss also pulled down 13 boards to collect her seventh double-double of the season. Olivia Irick joined Moss in double-figures as she poured in 14 points.

Charleston Southern (13-15, 7-8 Big South) was paced by Katie Tull's 23 points, on seven made treys, and Kelsey Wasmer's 20 points. Tull and Wasmer were two of only four Buccaneers to score on the night.

The Chants shot 47.3 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. CSU finished the night shooting 37.3 percent and 35.5 percent from three. Coastal also held a 39-33 advantage on the glass and an 11-3 edge in second chance points.

Charleston Southern quickly jumped on top to start the second half as Tull and Wasmer connected on treys in the opening minutes to take the Buccaneers first lead of the game. A converted jumper by Moss would halt the CSU momentum and spark an 11-0 Chanticleers run to put the ladies of Conway back on top 45-38.

Once again, the Bucs would lean on the combination of Tull and Wasmer to claw back into striking distance as each connected with triples to bring the Chants advantage down to three at 49-46 with 7:32 left to play in the game. Senior Jessica Noll would then knocked down a three and a jumper on back-to-back possessions to reestablish the Coastal lead to seven, but Tull would not let the game out of the Bucs' grasp as she stroked three straight from beyond the arc to bring Charleston Southern within one at 56-55.

Irick would sink two freebies followed by a layup with 1:19 remaining on the Chants next possession to put Coastal up for the final time at 60-56. Charleston Southern's Alston would then answer with a layup with 59 seconds left to keep the game within reach. Moss would be sent to the line where she would hit the front end of a pair to score the Chants final point of the regular season. Irick would then pick off CSU final inbounds pass to seal the Chanticleers tenth victory of the season.

Coastal Carolina came out of the locker room on fire to start the game and with the help of shooting 78 percent from the field over the first five minutes of play the Chants built a 15-0 advantage. The run was Coastal's largest to begin a game this season. Charleston Southern would not get on the board until a basket by Tull at the 11:32 mark.

Charleston Southern would use nine Chanticleer turnovers and four triples to put together a 26-9 run to tie the game at 26 all with 2:16 to play in the game. Katie White and Moss combined to push the Chant lead back to four, but a Lakeitha Alston layup in the final seconds would send the teams into the intermission with Coastal holding a 30-28 advantage.

Coastal Carolina will turn its attention to the Big South Tournament held at High Point's Millis Center. The Chanticleers will be the No. 8 seed in the tournament, which opens on March 11, and will find out its opponent after the conclusion of this week's slate of Big South games on Monday.