Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Coastal Carolina
@HerdWBB Improves to 3-0 with 84-66 Win over Coastal Carolina
11/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score (PDF)
Coach Daniel Postgame Press Conference
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team improved to 3-0 for the third consecutive season, defeating the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, 84-66, Saturday afternoon in the Cam Henderson Center.
Senior Kiana Evans led all scorers and set a career high with 23 points, besting her four-day old previous career high of 19 set against Florida A&M. Evans also tallied seven rebounds. Sophomore Shayna Gore added 14, redshirt junior Taylor Porter chipped in 13 and sophomore Khadaijia Brooks had 10. Freshman Ashley Saintigene netted career highs with eight points and five blocks.
The Herd opened the game by hitting its first two shots, a three-pointer by Evans and a jumper by Brooks. Coastal Carolina answered with an 8-0 run to take a three-point lead with 6:08 left in the first quarter. A jumper by Hamilton and a three-pointer by Evans tied the game at 10 with 5:31 to go in the quarter. The Chanticleers went on a 6-2 run to take a 16-12 lead with 4:31 left in the quarter but the Herd answered with three-pointers by Gore and Brooks to tie the game at 18 with 3:12 remaining in the first. After Coastal Carolina took a 20-18 lead, the Herd closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run. Evans hit a pair of three-pointers and converted a three-point play to score all nine points for the Herd during the run. Marshall shot 58 percent (7-of-12) from the field in the first quarter and led by seven, 27-20.
Coastal Carolina started the second quarter on a 10-1 run, taking a 30-28 lead with 6:54 left in the opening half. The Herd retook the lead on a free throw by freshman Asheika Alexander and a layup by Brooks. Evans added a layup to extend Marshall's lead to 33-30 with 4:27 remaining in the half. After Alexander connected on a pair of free throws to build the lead to five, Coastal Carolina's Rachael Gregory converted on a three-point play to cut Marshall's lead to two. The Herd went on a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 42-35 with 1:40 to go until halftime. Kennedy Archer's jumper with ten seconds to go in the half for the Chanticleers, cut the Marshall lead to five, 42-37, going in to halftime.
Redshirt junior McKenzie Akers drained her first three-pointer of the season to get the second half scoring going for Marshall. After a pair of Coastal Carolina baskets cut the Herd lead to three, 45-42, Marshall went on an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 53-44, prompting the Chanticleers to call a timeout with 5:12 left in the third. The Herd extended its lead to double digits for the first time in the game when Evans hit a jumper with 1:29 remaining in the quarter to give Marshall a 59-48 lead. The Herd went into the fourth quarter leading by 12, 61-49.
The Herd opened the fourth by scoring the first four points on layups by Saintigene and Alexander. The Chanticleers cut Marshall's lead to 65-53 but the Herd built the lead back up to 70-53 on a three-pointer by Porter and a layup by Saintigene. Coastal Carolina went on 9-3 run to cut Marshall's lead to 11, but layups by Hamilton and Gore ended the run and put the Herd back lead back to by 13, 77-64, with 2:46 remaining in the contest. The Herd closed out the game on a 7-2 run.
COACH'S CORNER
Quotes from head coach Matt Daniel
On the win
"As mad as I was the other day, I'm that glad today. We played a good team today. It was a great win. We were a lot better. After the first quarter, they were on pace for 80 points and we held them to 66. We were locked in on defense and made adjustments when they needed to be made."
On the lineup
"I'm still trying to figure out lineups. We started a different lineup today and I can't figure out the rotations yet. We've been playing Asheika Alexander out of position."
On preparing for the UTRGV Tournament
"We'll have tomorrow off and have an early practice Monday. Tuesday is a travel day and we will practice Wednesday and Thursday before playing Sam Houston State Friday and Prairie View A&M Saturday."
#GreatnessAwaits
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UP NEXT
Marshall travels down to Edinburg, Texas for the UTRGV Classic to face Sam Houston (11/25) and Prairie View A&M (11/26). Both games tipoff at 5:30 pm ET.
