Final Stats (PDF)
CONWAY – On Friday afternoon, junior guard
DJ Williams scored a game-high 26 points and hit a pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds left to lift Coastal Carolina to a thrilling 81-80 win over Bowling Green University at the HTC Center. Junior guard Catlin Roche added a career high 21 points as the Chanticleers, who never led in the game until the end, improved to 3-1 on the season.
Bowling Green's senior guard Sydney Lambert got off a 3-point try that missed as the buzzer sounded, ending the Falcons' three-game winning streak and leaving them at 3-2 on the year. Lambert led her team with 21 points while freshman guard Morgan McMillien added 15 points.
"She was awesome," said an elated head coach
Jaida Williams of
DJ Williams after the game. "She is the heart and soul of what we do."
Coastal Carolina also got double-figure scoring from junior center
Naheria Hamilton and freshman center
Aja Blount, who had 11 and 10 points respectively.
Williams collected 21 of her 26 points in the second half, including six in a row as the Chanticleers battled back to trail by only 78-76 with 2 minutes left in the game. In contrast, Roche score 11 of her 21 points in the first half, single-handedly keeping Coastal within striking distance. Roche was 4-5 form the field and 3-4 from 3-point range in the first half.
Coastal missed its first seven shots from the field to start the game, allowing Bowling Green to jump out to an 11-0 lead. Bowling Green continued to stretch the lead and led by 28-13 late in the first quarter, its largest lead of the game.
Coastal rallied back with a 7-0 run and closed to within 37-35 on Hamilton's layup with 1:30 left in the second quarter but still trailed 45-37 at the half. Coastal shot just 12 of 33 from the field (22%) in the half while the Falcons were a torrid 17-33 (53%) overall and 9-19 (56%) from behind the arch.
Coastal improved to finish at 28 of 71 (39%) and 6 of 21 (29%) from long range. The Chanticleers also out-rebounded Bowling Green by a 47-37 margin. Coastal's pressing defense forced 22 turnovers, many of which led to the team's 14 assists.
The Chanticleers are back in action at 2 p.m. Sunday with a home game against Memphis University.
For complete coverage of CCU Women's Basketball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalWBB(twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
