by PENSACOLA, Fla. — The 24th-ranked Jennies received a balanced scoring attack from their offense, boasting four players who scored double-digit points in a 79-64 win over South Carolina-Aiken at the West Florida Field House on Friday afternoon.
Senior Jasmine Thompson led the Jennies (4-1) with 18 points, followed by junior Shelby Winkelmann, who dropped 17 on the Pacers, while dealing out a career-high seven assists. Justina Prairie Chief (Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes) added 10 points in her 32 minutes of play.
Through the first 5:48 of the game, the Jennies built an 11-7 lead, seven of their points coming from senior forward Revonnia Howard, who finished with 12 points and a career-high five steals.
After Winkelmann made a layup to put the Jens up six points, 13-7, South Carolina-Aiken went on a 20-12 run over the next 6:10 to take their first lead of the game at 27-25. The next four possessions resulted in lead changes between the two foes, but Central Missouri gained some separation courtesy of a pair of treys by Winkelmann, finishing the half on an 8-2 spurt and taking a 39-31 lead into the intermission. The Jennies outscored the Pacers, 18-10 in the paint and 15-12 in bench points. 12 of the 15 bench points for UCM belonged to Winkelmann.
The Jennies’ lead reached double digits just 1:17 into the second half following a jumper by Justina Prairie Chief. South Carolina-Aiken responded with five unanswered points of its own to cut the margin to five, but an 8-2 run, ignited by 4 points from Thompson, pushed the lead back to 11 points with just under 13 minutes remaining.
South Carolina-Aiken closed to within nine points with 11:52 left following a three-point play by Kasey Johannsen, but the Jennies scored eight of the game’s next nine points, putting the Pacers in a 59-43 hole.
The deficit failed to reach single digits for the remainder of the game, reaching an many as 21 points at 67-46.
Thompson scored 14 of her team-leading 18 points in the second half. The Jennies turned in their best shooting performance of the season, knocking down 52.8% (28-of-53) of their shots. UCM received a season-best 25 points from their bench – the highest total since Dec. 19, 2013 at Central Oklahoma (26). Their 36 points in the paint was also the most in a game since February 12 of last season when they received 42 points from the second unit.
The victory was the 199th for head coach Dave Slifer in his UCM coaching career.
The Jennies will play the University of West Florida tomorrow afternoon for a 4 p.m. tip-off at the West Florida Field House.
