CONWAY – Junior guard Caitlin Roche hit for a career-high 28 points and junior guard DJ Williams scored 21 of her 23 points in the second half as Coastal Carolina finished on a 19-2 run to earn an 88-72 win over Arkansas State in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday at the HTC Center.
 
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Chanticleers and improved their record to 9-9 overall and 1-6 in the Sun Belt. Arkansas State got 14 points from Peyton Martin but the Red Wolves fell to 8-11, 3-5, with their fifth consecutive loss.
 
Coastal trailed 67-61 late in the third period before Williams singled-handedly put the Chanticleers on her back. She scored 10 of 12 points in a stretch and Coastal took the lead for good on guard Torrie Cash's layup, at 71-70, with seven minutes remaining. That ignited a 19-2 run and left Coastal with its biggest lead of 16 points at the game's end.
 
Roche, who played the entire game, hit on 10-of-19 shots, including 6-of-13 from three-point range. Williams was 8-of-13 from the field after being just 1-of-2 in the first half due to early foul trouble. Junior forward Naheria Hamilton, who also was plagued by foul trouble, had just six points and two rebounds, but sophomore forward Janae Camp stepped in to grab a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
Coastal finished 31-of-58 from the field (53.5%) while keeping Arkansas State to 26-of-61 (43%). Each team hit seven three-pointers. Coastal also held a large rebound advantage, 44-22.
 
Coastal looked to be in trouble early, as key starters Williams and Hamilton picked up two fouls each just five minutes into the game and sat out the final 15 minutes of the first half. But the Chanticleers turned up their energy with a full-court pressure defense and went on an 18-3 run to take a 30-21 lead, its largest of the half, with 7:45 left in the second period. Roche had seven points in the run and Camp came off the bench to grab eight rebounds at that point.
 
Arkansas State then turned the tables with its own pressure defense and had a furious 23-6 run late in the second period to regain the lead and build a 13-point margin, at 51-38. Coastal closed the half with inside buckets from Cash and Tiarra Davis off steals to close within 51-42 at halftime. Roche already had 15 points at the break on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Camp already had 10 rebounds, two shy of her career high.
 
Coastal is back on the road next week with a pair of games at ULM (Jan. 31) and Louisiana (Feb. 2).