College of Charleston
Savannah State
Cougars Survive Savannah State, 61-54
1/21/2009 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) scored 14 points, including four straight free throws with under 20 seconds that helped stave off a Tiger rally, to pace the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the 61-54 victory over Savannah State in action tonight at Tiger Arena in Savannah, Ga.
Charleston won its fifth in a row to improve to 13-5 overall while Savannah State falls to 3-15. The Cougars won their fifth in a row for the first time since early in the 2003-04 season.
The Tigers led 40-39 with 14:57 remaining in the game after outscoring the Cougars 12-8 to open the second half. Savannah State didn't find the basket again for the next nine minutes as the Cougars went on a 13-0 run to build a 12-point, 52-40, with 5:52 to go. The Tigers crept back into the game and only trailed by five with 24 seconds remaining, but Hughes went four-for-four from the charity stripe to keep the Tigers at bay.
Charleston built a double-digit lead over Savannah State early and led by 12, 29-17, with 6:16 to go before intermission. The Tigers cut the margin to three, though, after ending the half on an 11-2 run to go into the locker room trailing 31-28.
Following Hughes in scoring for the Cougars was Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) and Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) with 11 points each. Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) had 10. Sarah Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) pulled down six rebounds to lead the team.
Milan Johnson led the Tigers with 14 on the night, with Lashara Smith following with 10. Courtney Long had seven rebounds to paces Savannah State.
Charleston shot 44.7 percent from the field for the game, including 50.0 percent in the first half. Savannah State ended with 40.0. The Cougars were seven-for-18 from beyond the three-point arc and were 12-for-15 from the charity stripe. Savannah State was three-for-16 and seven-for-11, respectively. The Cougars out-rebounded the Tigers, 35-28, but had more turnovers, 19-24.
The Cougars start the second half of Southern Conference play Saturday, Jan. 24, when they host Elon at the Carolina First Arena.
