CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina University women’s basketball team (9-3) had a season high 23 assists and had two players in double figures in rebounding in defeating Coker (1-9) 86-47 Jan. 3 in Conway, S.C.  Senior Vicky Blanchard (Eutawville, S.C./Holly Hill-Roberts) had her third career double-double in the victory.

Coastal jumped out to a 9-0 lead on senior C.J. Ware’s (Decatur, Ga./Lakeside) jumper at 17:32.  The Lady Chanticleers would go up 19-5 at 12:07 on a jumper from sophomore Lacey Lyons (Beverly Hills, Fla./Crystal River).  Coastal would have as much as a 21-point first half lead as redshirt freshman Lauren Grochowski (Naperville, Ill./Central) hit a jumper at 6:11 to put CCU ahead 34-13.  Coker would cut that lead to 39-26 with 1:43 left on a Temeca Spain jumper, but Lyons’ three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Lady Chants a 45-28 halftime advantage. 

Coastal scorched the nets in the first half, hitting 57.1 percent (20-35) of its shots and 62.5 percent (5-8) of its three-point attempts.  Lyons had 11 points in the first half for her 20th career double-figure scoring output.  Freshman Katie White (St. Charles, Ill./East) added six points, while Blanchard had six rebounds.  Spain, a Conway native, had eight points and seven rebounds in the first half.

Coker opened the second half on a 6-0 run, capped by a Lotta Aaltonen jumper at 16:43, but Coastal then went on a 17-4 run over the next 7:59 as Ware’s jumper at 8:44 made it 64-38 CCU.  The Lady Chants were 7-of-12 from the three-point line in the second half and outscored the Cobras 41-19 in the frame for its ninth win of the season.

Blanchard had 13 points and 13 rebounds, one off a career high, for the double-double.  Lyons ended with 19 points, going 5-of-8 from three-point range.  Freshman Kate Jasinski (Toledo, Ohio/Penn (Ind.)) was the third Lady Chant in double figures in scoring with 10 points.  Senior Joanna Pekonen (Lappeenranta, Finland/Makelanrinne (Lafayette)) added a career high 10 rebounds.  White, freshman Jessica Noll (Myrtle Beach, S.C./St. James) and sophomore Lori Whitaker (Bloomington, Ind./North) each had eight points in the win.

Ware was one off a career high with six assists, while Blanchard and Jasinski had four assists apiece.  Coastal also set season highs for field goal percentage (48.6 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (60.0 percent).

For Coker, Spain had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Aaltonen had 10 points.

Coastal hosts Morris College Monday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m., in Kimbel Arena.  Coker hosts Limestone Saturday at 2 p.m.