JONESBORO, Ark. (1/15/22) – Winning both games in a week in conference play is never easy, but the Arkansas State women's basketball team came away with the weekend sweep, cruising past Coastal Carolina 81-60 on Saturday at First National Bank Arena.
The Red Wolves (10-7, 3-1 SBC) led by as much as 23 and only trailed for just under 2 minutes in the ballgame, taking advantage of 24 takeaways against the Chanticleers (12-4, 2-3). The win moved A-State's winning streak to three games, scoring 80 or more points in three straight league contests for the first time since 2000.
Keya Patton led A-State with 19 points for the second game in a row, while swiping a career-high six steals. Jireh Washington tallied 17 points while dishing out a game-high 7 assists. Mailyn Wilkerson recorded 10 points, 8 of which came in the second half. Trinitee Jackson led all players with 14 rebounds to go along with 8 points, while Morgan Wallace finished with 8 points and 9 boards, just three points shy of reaching the 1,000 career points mark.
A-State shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field, including 37.0 percent (10-of-27) from beyond the arc, while going 17-for-23 (73.9 percent) at the free-throw line. The Red Wolves tallied 19 assists on those 27 field goals for a 70.4 percent assist percentage. The Scarlet and Black swiped 14 total steals, the most in a conference game since Feb. 20, 2020, at South Alabama.
Aja Blount led all players with 23 points as the lone Coastal Carolina player in double figures. Janae Camp led the Chanticleers with 9 rebounds, as CCU out-rebounded A-State by just two boards (37-35) after entering Saturday with a +15.5 rebound margin.
The Chanticleers struck first, but could not slow down a fast-paced A-State team, which ended the first quarter on an 11-3 run, including eight unanswered, to lead 21-14 after 10. The Red Wolves did that despite not making a field goal for the final three minutes of the period.
A Washington trey gave A-State a 10-point lead early in the second before Coastal Carolina chipped the deficit down to two on a hook shot by Janeen Camp. A-State endured a cold spell, going without a field goal for over five minutes, but a Patton lay-in and wide-open Love 3-pointer pushed the Red Wolves back ahead by eight. A-State led 33-27 at the half behind 13 first-half takeaways – seven in the second quarter.
A-State came out of the locker room fast, forcing three quick turnovers and building its lead up to 13 before Coastal Carolina called a timeout at the 8:25 mark. The Red Wolves maintained a double-digit lead for nearly the entire quarter, with a Washington three making it 58-42 with 46 seconds left. A-State took a 58-44 lead into the final 10 minutes.
Neither team scored for the first 2 minutes, 15 seconds of the fourth quarter before a Wallace layup made it 60-44. Patton then scored five of A-State's next seven points to push the margin up to 18 with 6:51 to go. After Wilkerson knocked down a trey, Kiayra Ellis connected from deep at the midway point to give the Red Wolves their largest lead of the day, up 75-52 with 5 minutes to go. The Chanticleers battled back with an 8-0 run to cut it to 15, but that would be all they could muster, as A-State held them scoreless for the final two minutes, scoring six unanswered to close out the 21-point victory.
NEXT UP
A-State returns to the road Thursday, traveling to Mobile, Ala., for a test at South Alabama. Tip-off versus the Jaguars at the Mitchell Center is slated for 7 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ESPN+. The radio broadcast can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network flagship station 95.3/96.9 The Ticket/970 AM.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For the latest on the A-State women's basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.
