CONWAY, S.C. – Aja Blount and Deaja Richardson each scored 20 points as Coastal Carolina pulled away in the second half to upset James Madison 79-64 in a Sun Belt Conference game Thursday night at the HTC Center on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.
Blount and Richardson were supported by Arin Freeman and Anaya Barney, who had 11 and 10 points, respectively. Miriam Recarte also added nine points for the Chanticleers, who upped their record to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in the league. It was a big turnaround from a month ago when James Madison defeated Coastal 77-56 on the road in Harrisonburg.
“I really want our team to have success like this and I’m so happy for them,” said Coastal head coach Kevin Pederson. “We do not win this game if we do not make seven or eight three-pointers. We wanted to play inside-outside, and we preached about keeping our composure. Let us act like we have been here before, and we responded when they cut our lead to five.”
Coastal now heads to Norfolk, Va., for a road contest with Old Dominion at 2 p.m. ET Saturday before coming back home to host Arkansas State and Appalachian State next week.
