Jacksonville, Tx- As Coastal Bend faced their first Region XIV Conference road test of the season, The Cougars were looking to add another win to their belt on Tuesday, December, 4th.
The Cougars came out and jumped up early to an 8-2 lead coming from a forcing turnovers and executing offense. Jacksonville responded quickly though and turned the lead by a barrage of scoring from Malwa and Ellis. Jacksonville kept the lead the rest of the first quarter to lead 24-23. In the second quarter Coastal Bend couldn't not get on track and Jacksonville shot well about 60 percent from the field in that quarter to push the halftime lead to 45-33.
The third quarter followed with a back and forth game where teams traded baskets and free throws most of the quarter. Towards the end of the third Coastal Bend guard Marley Martinez hit a three and another bucket to cut the lead to 56-54. Coastal Bend Head Coach, Nathan Purswell on the third quarter of play, "It felt like we traded baskets all the third quarter but after looking back we diminished a 13 point lead to 2.". He added, "We made stops and forced turnovers when needed to fight back."
The score was down to two for Jacksonville at the end of the 3rd. 60-58.
The fourth quarter saw some bad woes for Coastal Bend as they turned the ball over in bunches and couldn't keep Jacksonville off the glass. Finally Angelina Barela, Francheska Aguino, Jada Mitchell tightened up their ball handling and found open hands. On two straight possessions Barela hit Emiko Hemphill for an and one and a score. Also Coastal Bend's, Emiko Hemphill and Tianie Johnson cleaned took care by grabbing six defensive rebounds in the next 11 possessions. Coastal Bend found there stride and Jayde Walker, Aubrey Guerra, and Jada Mitchell hit three consecutive three balls to gain the lead 74-71 for Coastal Bend. Savannah Villegas added a jumpshot and Aubrey Guerra sealed the game making five out of six free throws. The Cougars came out victorious 81-77 on the road to a tough Jacksonville College team on Tuesday.
Coach Purswell on his team, "This team plays very hard...they are never really out of a game because of heart."
Individual Scoring for Coastal Bend; Aubrey Guerra had a game high,19 points. Forward, Emiko Hemphill notched her second consecutive Double-Double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Guard, Jada Mitchell scored 13 points to help pace the Cougars. Tianie Johnson had a nice performance with 10 points on the contest. Marley Martinez was able to get in the scoring column by chipping in nine points.
Coastal Bend moves to 4-7 on the season and improves to 2-0 in Region XIV Conference play with this victory over Jacksonville College.
Saturday, December 8th, CBC will host Angelina College for thier third Region XIV Conference game. Tip-Off is at 2:00 PM.