PENSACOLA, Fla. (3/1/22) – Jireh Washington dropped a career-high 30 points, but the Arkansas State women's basketball team could not overcome a 22-point deficit, falling 91-76 to Coastal Carolina Wednesday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Washington was one of four Red Wolves (12-16) in double figures, connecting on 7-of-15 from the field and 16-of-21 from the free-throw line. Both her makes and attempts at the charity stripe tied for the third most by an A-State player in a single game. The Memphis, Tenn., native grabbed seven rebounds and swiped five steals.
Lauryn Pendleton tallied 14 points with four rebounds and five steals. Mya Love added a season-high 13 points off the bench, while Morgan Wallace tallied 13 to go along with seven boards and five steals in her final game at A-State.
As a team, A-State shot 34.8 percent from the field on 24-of-69 shooting and 82.8 percent from the foul line (24-of-29). Defensively, the Red Wolves forced 25 turnovers, poking away 21 steals.
Coastal Carolina (15-10) got 41 points from Aja Blount on 14-of-18 from the field. The Chanticleers shot 54.9 percent from the floor (28-51) and 47.1 percent from deep (8-17), while going 27-of-34 from the foul line (79.4 percent).
A-State started strong with an early 4-0 lead, but the Chanticleers took 15 of the next 20 points to take a 17-11 lead with just over two minutes to go in the first. The Red Wolves closed the opening period on a 6-0 run, capped off by a Pendleton bucket to end the first quarter knotted up at 17.
Coastal Carolina outscored the Red Wolves 18-7 in the second quarter to open up a double-digit lead, leading by a dozen at the 2-minute mark on a trey by Blount. The Chanticleers owned a 35-24 lead at the half.
Washington exploded for 27 of her 30 points in the second half, despite CCU pushing its lead out to as much as 22. The Red Wolves did not go away in the final quarter, outscoring the Chanticleers 33-29 to close strong and cut that deficit down to 11. Coastal connected on 19 of 24 fourth-quarter free throws to close it out despite the Red Wolves holding it without a field goal for over six minutes.
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