#articleRelated { display: none !important; } Cougar Melissa Chambers pulled down the offensive rebound off a missed free throw with two seconds left as the College of Charleston women's basketball team held on to the one-point 55-54 win over East Tennessee State this evening in front of 256 fans at the John Kresse Arena.

The College of Charleston improved to .500 on the season with a 12-12 overall record and a 9-9 Southern Conference mark, while East Tennessee State dropped to 9-15 and 7-10.

The Cougars opened the first half with a 7-0 run that lasted until 13:44 left in the first half when Buc Tiffani Mayes scored the first two points of her eventual game-high 20 points. Charleston took advantage of 27.6 first half shooting by ETSU to hold a solid lead throughout the first 20 minutes and led by as much as 15 before settling on the 13-point 32-19 lead at intermission. Charleston shot 35.3 from the field and was led by Erica Irick's 10 points in the first half.

East Tennessee State started the second half on fire, cutting the deficit to two with an 11-0 run. With 16:17 left, Charleston quickly took the lead back to 11 over the next four minutes with a 12-2 run to take the score to 44-33. The Bucs did not give up and went on their own 12-2 run to cut the lead down to one at 46-45 with 8:14 to go. The margin would not go above four the rest of the game with both teams answering each others' shots.

At the 1:44 mark, the Cougars led 55-51 before Mayes put the ball through the hoop, was fouled and converted the free throw for the three-point play to cut the game to one point. With 40 seconds left. Charleston missed its next shot and Nichelle Akers picked up the rebound to give the Bucs one last shot with 15 seconds left. Mayes took the shot from just under the basket but was blocked by Chambers, with Patrice Bryant coming away with the rebound. She was immediately fouled with three seconds left but missed both free throws. However, Chambers grabbed the rebound with two seconds left to help secure the 55-54 win.

East Tennessee State shot 53.8 from the field in the second half to caome away with 40.0 percent for the game. Charleston shot 28.6 percent in the final 20 minutes and ended with 32.3 for the game. The Bucs out-rebounded the Cougars 43-36, but had 21 turnovers, compared to just 12 for Charleston. The College of Charleston connected on 11-of-14 free throws, while ETSU was seven-for-12.

Leading East Tennessee State was Tiffany Mayes with a season-high 20 points and 18 rebounds. BJ Banjo followed with 17 points on the night. Irick finished the night with 14 points to lead the Cougars while Marketta Talley and 10. Bryant pulled down 11 rebounds to pace Charleston.

Charleston hosts Appalachian State Feb. 19th at 2:00 PM, while East Tennessee State travels to UNC Greensboro the same day for a 3:00 PM match-up.