CONWAY – Junior guard Caitlin Roche scored a career high 24 points to lead six players in double figures as Coastal Carolina rolled to a 126-65 win over North Carolina Wesleyan Saturday.
 
With the win the Chants improve to 7-1 and are off to their best season start since 2007-08 when Coastal also won seven of its first eight games. Saturday's win was also Coastal's ninth straight at home, bringing the streak one game away of the program record of 10 consecutive home wins.
 
The Chants also got career highs of 23 points from freshman center Aja Blount and 17 from sophomore guard Mery Visone.  Breelyn Branding had 13, Naheria Hamilton had 11 and Torrie Cash added 10 points. In all, 11 players scored for the Chanticleers.
 
Blount scored all of her points in the paint, shooting 8-12 from the field and making 7-8 free throws. She also had 6 rebounds.
 
Roche, who has scored more than 20 points in three of the last four games, hit on 9-16 shots and 6-11 from 3-point range in just 22 minutes of playing time. As a team, Coastal hit on 42-84 shots (50 %), and out-rebounded NC Wesleyan, 58-43.
 
NC Wesleyan, now 1-7, was led by sophomore guard Cydney Nichols, who had 18 points.
 
Coastal led from beginning to end as it made its first five shots and jumped out to an 11-0 lead. Roche already had 14 points at the end of the first quarter when the Chanticleers held a commanding 33-13 advantage. She had 19 at the half when Coastal led 70-24. The lead grew to more than 50 points in the third quarter and the Chanticleers grew the lead to 64 points, at 116-52, on Visone's layup with 4 minutes left in the contest.
 
Coastal Carolina will be back in action Dec. 18 when it plays Auburn at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in the annual Carolinas Challenge.