NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – The battle for supremacy in Lowcountry women's basketball lived up to the hype Thursday in The Buc Dome, where the College of Charleston (3-8) edged out Charleston Southern (6-4) in a come-from-behind thriller.
• The Cougars surrendered an early double-digit lead to CSU in the opening quarter, and played the rest of the game playing catch-up. CofC slowly encroached on the deficit in the closing 15 minutes of the half, getting to within six (19-13) at the end of the first quarter and within four (35-31) by the end of the second.
•
Brianna Boyd drew her first start of the season, and left a significant imprint on the game. She led all scorers with 12 points and six rebounds at halftime, and closed out the game with a team-best 20 points on 9 of 14 shooting, adding eight boards and a block in 26 minutes.
• The Cougars reduced the gap to one twice in the third quarter, but CSU put together a 13-4 run over the last three minutes to head into the fourth up 60-50. The College responded with a 9-0 run to start the half, and finally secured just their second lead of the game with under five to play in regulation thanks to a
Dajah Logan layup.
• After pushing the lead as high as five, Charleston Southern came pushing back, taking the lead back with 48 seconds to play. A
Breanna Bolden layup followed by a CSU free throw rendered the game tied with 16 seconds to play, and it was
Tanisha Brown who stepped up as the hero, converting a putback layup with seven seconds to play. The Buccaneers would not score again.
• Bolden had an excellent all-around stat line, scoring 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting while adding nine rebounds, two steals, a block and matching a career-best six assists. She was one of five Cougars to reach double-digit scoring, joining Boyd, Logan (14 Pts, 1 Blk, 1 Stl),
Tanisha Brown (10-6-3) and
Darien Huff (12-4, 2 Stl, 3 3PM).
"I saw a tremendous fight and a high degree of effort from the team today," head coach
Candice M. Jackson said. "We've been missing some of those components lately, but I'm so proud to have been able to see them today, and it will be good for us to build off that."
"I think our ladies took a lot of pride in this one, with Charleston Southern being our cross-town rivals," Jackson said. "I think losing to an in-state rival like Coastal Carolina left a bad taste in our mouth, and we went into this one knowing it was a game we needed, and we got the job done."
The Cougars now coast into the holiday season with their non-conference slate complete. They'll begin CAA competition on Monday, January 2, when they will head to Elon to do battle with the Phoenix (7-4).
