Charleston Southern University Athletics
7-4
Maine
3-9
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 25 | 38 | 63 |
| CHARLESTON SOUTHERN | 38 | 40 | 78 |
Buccaneers Power Past Black Bears 78-63
12/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Charleston Southern women's basketball team rebounded from yesterday's loss to Florida by finishing out the Gator Holiday Classic with a 78-63 win over the University of Maine Black Bears on Wednesday evening at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville.
Rachelle Coward tallied a career-high 30 points to lead the Lady Bucs, sinking an impressive six 3-pointers and going 10-of-17 from the field. Coward also led the rebounding effort with eight of CSU's 23 boards. Erin Bratcher also made three 3-pointers for 13 points and had four steals, while Shay Jones pulled down eight rebounds. The Bucs finished the day shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 37.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Shareka Maner was one of just two Black Bear players to score in double digits, tallying 13 points ad eight rebounds. Ashleigh Roberts had 10 points as well for Maine.
The Black Bears jumped out to a slim 7-4 lead before the Buccaneers took control of the half after Coward's first 3-pointer of the night tied things up at 7-7. Her trey started a 13-2 run that put Charleston Southern up 17-9 with 13 minutes to go in the first half.
A 3-pointer by Bratcher took the lead into double digits at 32-20 before another shot from beyond the arc put the Bucs ahead by 16. They would keep it at 13 heading into halftime with the score at 38-25.
Maine cut the CSU lead to nine on a free-throw, but another big scoring run of 10-2 would again put the Bucs ahead 53-36 four and half minutes into the second half. Another 3-pointer by Coward took the lead to 20. Despite steady scoring by Maine, the Buccaneers remained in control and took the 78-63 win.
After a break for the holidays, the Buccaneers will return to
action on New Year's Eve when they open Big South action at the Buc
Dome vs. Presbyterian. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. in
Charleston.
