Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) posted her second career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds as the College of Charleston women's basketball team defeated the Georgia Southern Eagles, 63-43, to give Head Coach Nancy Wilson her 500th career win.
Wilson, whose first win was a 100-51 decision over Baptist College (now Charleston Southern) in 1976-77, now has a 500-309 record in 26 seasons. She ranks 24th in victories among active Division I women's basketball coaches and is 37th on the all-time list. She is also in the top 50 in victories among all women's basketball coaches.
Wilson, who left CofC in 1984 to become head coach at South Carolina until 1997, claimed her 200th win with a 70-67 victory over Southern Mississippi on Jan. 10, 1985. Her 450th victory was a 59-50 win over Wofford on Jan. 7, 2006.
The Cougars are now 19-7 overall and 12-6 in the Southern Conference. The 19 wins is a CofC NCAA record, while the 12 SoCon victories is also an all-time best. Georgia Southern falls to 15-11 and 10-7 in the league.
Neither team could get a foothold in the first half, as the score remained within five points on both sides most of the half. The Eagles led by five early, 7-2, at the 17:37 mark and the Cougars led by four at 22-18 with 7:20 to go. GSU's Samantha Williams notched a three-pointer at 7:03 to cut the margin to one. That would be the last score for the Eagles for the remainder of the half as Charleston, fueled by six points from Nikki Williams (North, S.C.), rattled off 11 unanswered points to go into the locker room leading 33-21.
Charleston continued where it left off, and held Georgia Southern without a field goal until 14:30 remaining in the game. The Eagles cut the margin to 10, 48-38, with 2:18 to go but could get no further as Charleston used clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, converting nine of its final 11, to take the 20-point, 63-43 win.
The Cougars shot 42.6 percent from the field after firing a 51.7 percentage in the first half, and held the Eagles to just 27.5 percent, a season low for CofC. GSU shot just 24.2 percent in the second half. Charleston out-rebounded Georgia Southern 42-38 and had the 13-7 advantage in steals. The Eagles had 22 turnovers, resulting in 30 points for the Cougars. Charleston had 19 turnovers but those only resulted in 10 points for GSU.
Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) led the Cougars with 12 points. Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) had 11 points to go along with her career-high six steals. Jones led the team with her career-high 13 boards.
Leading Georgia Southern was Williams with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Charleston is back in action Saturday, Feb 21 at 2:00 p.m. when the Cougars host Appalachian State at the Carolina First Arena.
