Even with out star Gibson, CCU women’s basketball earns first win

After dropping its season opener to Clemson on Friday, the Coastal Carolina women’s basketball team had a shot to bounce back and pick up its first win of the young season.

But without the services of one of its star players in Ced Gibson, who was sitting out due to an injury suffered Friday, it was going to be a challenge for the Chanticleers.

Still, four players finished in double figures for scoring and the Chanticleers cruised to a 66-50 win over North Carolina Central in CCU’s home opener at The HTC Center.

“Really, really proud of our team for the effort. Without Ced in there we were a little out of rhythm, but I thought they responded well,” Coastal Carolina head coach Jaida Williams said. “We had a balanced attack and [were] able to get the win and [I’m] really proud of our student-athletes for that.”

Rachael Gregory led the way for the Chants with 17 points and nine rebounds after putting up a team-high 14 in the loss to Clemson.

“And zero turnovers, I’m really proud of Rachael,” Williams said. “Her leadership is great, she’s been very consistent, and I expect to see the same kind of score card night in and night out.”

Yasmin Miller had 11 points and six rebounds, Jas Adams added 12 points and three assists, while Naheria Hamilton added 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Coastal.

Williams has been impressed with the the play of Hamilton, a freshman.

“She works really hard in practice, I’m really proud of her effort,” Williams said of Hamilton. “I’m not surprised, Naheria is a quality athlete and just going to get better and better with time.”

Coastal Carolina outrebounded the Eagles 48-39 and outscored them 34-14 in the paint.

The Chants also did a good job of limiting North Carolina Central on its shots as the Eagles were 18-of-66 from the field in the game. While Morgan Jones led the way with 18 points and nine rebounds, Jada Blow was just 1-of-18 for three points and also had three turnovers.

“We wanted to make sure we had a lock on Jada Blow, we knew she was going to shot a lot. But Morgan Jones showed up for them and did a phenomenal job,” Williams said. “We just wanted to make sure in the third and fourth quarter that we keyed on her and limited her shots.”

Now Coastal Carolina moves its focus to a road matchup against Marshall on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We just want to keep working and getting better,” Williams said. “But I like what I’ve seen from our student-athletes so far.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Even with out star Gibson, CCU women’s basketball earns first win."