College of Charleston
Coastal Carolina
Cougars Drop 44-43 Heartbreaker to Chanticleers
11/17/2010 1:44:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Sydnei Moss hit a jumper with .4 seconds left to quell a furious Cougar rally and lift the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to the 44-43 win over the College of Charleston women's basketball team tonight in front of 1,026 fans at the Carolina First Arena.
Down by nine, 38-29, with 9:07 remaining, the Cougars (1-2) staged a 14-4 run, led by four points from Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) and Ariel Hatcher (Detroit, Mich.), the two leading scorers on the night. The run ended with 21 seconds left on the clock as Jillian Brown (Midlothian, Va.) connected on her first career three-pointer to give the Cougars the one-point, 43-42 lead.
Moss, who led the Chanticleers (2-0) with 18 points and seven rebounds, hit a clutch jumper just to the left of the basket to return the lead to Coastal Carolina with .4 seconds on the clock. Charleston was unable to get a shot off and the Chanticleers escaped with the 44-43 win.
After Gerty hit a jumper at 17:45 for the game's first points, the Cougar offense went cold, as they missed their next eight shots to fall 12-2 with 12:23 to go before intermission. Gerty hit one of her team-leading 14 points to snap the drought at 9:19 in the first half and sparked an 11-3 run that whittled the deficit to two, 15-13, with 2:47 on the clock.
Charleston pulled to within one with just over a minute left before a lay-up by Alexx Puckett with 36 seconds remaining increased the Coastal Carolina lead to three at intermission, 20-17.
Following Gerty's 14 points was Hatcher with her career-high 12 points. Charleston out-rebounded Coastal Carolina 45-36, with Latisha Harris (Aynor, S.C.) leading the way with a career-high 11. After shooting just 28.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Cougars recovered in the second and went 12-for-29 for 41.4 percent. Charleston ended the game with 35.1 percent, while Coastal Carolina shot 33.3 percent.
The Cougars had five more turnovers, 23-18. Both teams were dismal from long range, with the Chanticleers connecting on just two-of-10 and the Cougars two-of-11.
Charleston next travels to Bethune Cookman Friday, Nov. 19 for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
