St. Francis delivers Coastal women season’s first loss

Riding high following a recent victory over Clemson, the Coastal Carolina women’s basketball team was dealt a dose of reality on Wednesday night.

Falling behind early to a frenetic St. Francis attack, the Chanticleers were unable to gain their footing in a 106-74 loss. The loss drops Coastal to 2-1 on the season.

It was the first time the Chants allowed an opponent to surpass the 100-point mark in nearly two years, dating back to a 106-52 loss to North Carolina at the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

Coastal Carolina scored the game’s first basket on an Alexis Robinson layup. However, it would give the Chants their only lead of the ball game, the score quickly answered by a 33-11 run courtesy of the Red Flash.

St. Francis led 50-36 at halftime, shooting better than 44 percent from the field -- including 8 of 20 from beyond the arc. Conversely, Coastal was unable to knock down any of its attempts from long-range in the opening 20 minutes.

Guard Ced Gibson led Coastal Carolina with 16 points, while Rachel Gregory followed with 15 of her own, along with four steals and seven rebounds.

The Chants return to the court Sunday, hosting Allen University at The HTC Center. Tip off is at 2 p.m.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "St. Francis delivers Coastal women season’s first loss."