Defense Carries Chants Past Savannah State

January 15, 2008
SAVANNAH, Ga- Leading by 10 points at the half, Coastal Carolina held Savannah State to seven points in the second half as they rolled to a 53-28 win over the Lady Tigers at Tiger Arena.

Savannah State went 2-for-17 from the floor in the second period and only hit one-of-eight 3-point attempts.

Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina used a 15-0 run to build a 25 point cushion with 6:44 remaining.

CCU led 31-21 at intermission. A jumper by Amanda Stull gave the Chants a 12 point lead early in the second half but SSU's Ivy Smith made a layup with 19:42 to cut Coastal's lead back to 33-23.

Savannah State missed their next 14 shots from the field. Two free throws by Amber West stopped put SSU down 48-25 with 3:08 left.

With CCU ahead by 28, Shmika Jones made a 3-pointer for SSU with 28 seconds remaining to make the score 53-28.

Coastal scored 15 points off 19 SSU turnovers in the second period.

In the first half, with the scored knotted at 13, Coastal went on a 12-4 run and led 25-17 with 4:28 on the clock.

SSU was able to trim their deficit to five with 4:06 left when Smith nailed a 3-pointer but Coastal finished the half on a 6-1 spurt.

For the game, Coastal out-rebounded SSU 43 to 28.

Devin Rivers led CCU (11-3) with 13 points while Vicky Blanchard grabbed 12 rebounds.

Savannah State, which fell to 8-9, received a 10-point effort from Smith. Smith also had 13 turnovers.