Bucs Top Chanticleers on Coward's Buzzer Beater

Saturday, January 28

Charleston Southern University Athletics

12-8, 5-4BSC

Coastal Caro.

10-8, 3-6BSC

Team	1	2	F
Coastal Carolina	25	41	66
CHARLESTON SOUTHERN	30	39	69

1/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Rachelle Coward's three-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go pushed the Charleston Southern women's basketball team past Big South and in-state rival Coastal Carolina, 69-66, in an exciting finish on Saturday afternoon at the Buc Dome in Charleston.

Despite playing once again without a true point guard, the Buccaneers (12-8, 5-4 BSC) were able to down their Palmetto State foes, the Chanticleers (10-8, 3-6 BSC), with an all-around team effort. The win snapped a three-game skid for the CSU, who lost back-to-back BSC road games last weekend.

"What an exciting end to the game, and to a challenging week," said head coach Julie Goodenough. "I asked Lakeitha (Alston) and Rachelle to be our primary ball-handlers and they accepted the role with great composure. I am very proud of our team's selfless effort in this win today."

Coward's game-winning trey was the finishing touch on the junior's seven-point scoring spree in the final 40 seconds of the game. She led all players in scoring by tying her career-high of 32 points and also added in two blocks and two steals. Coward hit five shots from down-town, shooting 50 percent (9-of-18) from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 at the free-throw line while playing all 40 minutes of action.

Alston recorded her fourth double-double of the season, putting up 11 points and grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds. She also dished out a team-high five assists and led the Buccaneers with three steals.

Erin Bratcher also put up 12 points on the afternoon while Anicia Dotson chipped in with eight points.

Charleston Southern finished the day shooting 44 percent from the floor and making nine shots from beyond the arc. CSU was out-rebounded, 50-30, by the Chanticleers. Each team put up 24 points in the paint, while CCU won the battle of turnovers with 14 to CSU's 18.

Shatia Cole and Olivia Irick paced the Chanticleers with 22 and 20 points, respectively. Shanika Maddox led the CCU rebounding effort with 11 boards and seven points while Angelica Henry fell just shy of a double double with nine points and nine rebounds. The Chants shot 34.3 percent on the day and were 13-of-19 from the charity stripe.

A close contest for the first eight minutes, the Bucs started to pull away with 11:44 to go in the first half. Back-to-back threes from Coward put Charleston Southern ahead by eight, a lead they were able to keep until the closing minutes of the half. A 9-2 run by the Chants brought them within one with just under three to go, but the Buccaneers held strong and a trey from Shannon Sanders kept the CSU lead at five, 30-25, at the half.

Coward's free throw with just over 14 minutes to play gave the Buccaneers a nine-point advantage, its largest of the afternoon. However the Chanticleers began to whittle away at the deficit. A jumper by Cole with 8:47 remaining cut the CSU lead to just a point before Savannah Pippin put up two in the paint to give Coastal Carolina its first lead since 15:53 of the first half.

A pair of free throws put CCU ahead by four with 6:30 to play. Coward then sunk a trey and drew the foul, making the ensuing free throw to tie things up at 54.

Dotson, Alston and Coward combined to make four free throws to keep the Bucs ahead by six with under 40 seconds to go. However after missing two freebies, Cole sunk a crucial three to tie the game up with six seconds to play.

After the Bucs in-bounded the ball, Coward sunk her fifth trey of the night with 1.5 seconds remaining to seal the deal.

CSU will have plenty of time to rest up before taking on UNC Asheville on February 4. The Bucs will host the Bulldogs in a 2 p.m. tip at the Buc Dome.