Conway, S.C. – Aja Blount had game-highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Coastal Carolina to an easy 87-56 win over South Carolina State in a non-conference home contest Wednesday night at the HTC Center.
Blount, a 5'11" graduate student, was one of three players in double figures for the Chants, who raised their record to 2-4 overall and 2-0 at home. Senior guard
Deaja Richardson added 16 points while freshman guard
Anaya Barney came off the bench to score 13 points.
Arin Freeman, a 5'7" sophomore guard, added eight points to go along with eight assists and five rebounds.
It was the 20th career double-double for Blount, who has now scored 20 or more points in the last four contests and is averaging a team-high 17 points per game. She also leads the team with 9.0 rebounds a game.
Mekayla Lumpin scored 16 points to lead South Carolina State, which slipped to 0-9 on the season. Nadia Reese and Nicole Green put in 14 points apiece for the Bulldogs.
Blount muscled her way inside to hit on 10-of-12 field goal attempts to lead the Chanticleers to a clear advantage in the paint, where they got 46 of their points.
They also found the range for nine three-pointers, with Richardson, who returned to the starting lineup after missing the last game, leading the way with four field goals from long range.
Coastal led comfortably throughout the second half but cemented the win with an 11-0 run that gave the Chants a 74-48 lead with 8:00 left in the game.
After a sluggish start where the Chanticleers fell behind 12-0, they rallied to pull ahead by a point at the close of the first quarter. CCU's Barney, Blount, and Freeman combined to score 14 of the Chants' 19 points by going a combined 6-of-9 from the field with Barney totaling six first-quarter points.
Blount went to work, where she scored six points in a 14-0 run early in the second period that broke the game open for the Chants, putting them in front at 33-22. Blount finished with 12 points in the second quarter and Coastal led 44-30 at the halfway point.
Coastal finished the game shooting 33-for-58 (57.0 percent) and outrebounded the smaller visitors at 44-20. South Carlina State shot 38.0 percent for the game after starting the game by making 5-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc leading to a 12-0 Bulldogs start.
Coastal will travel to Charleston, S.C., to face the College of Charleston at 7 p.m. ET Friday before returning to the HTC Center for a three-game homestand. The Chanticleers will host Furman at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 11, and then welcome Erskine at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 15, and UNCW at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 18.
For complete coverage of CCU women's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWBB (twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
