BOX SCORE (PDF)

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Coastal Carolina senior forward Aja Blount, a 2022 first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection scored 41 points – the most by a Sun Belt Conference player this season – and led the ninth-seeded Chanticleers to a 91-76 win against eighth-seeded Arkansas State on Wednesday in the opening game of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center. 

Coastal Carolina (15-10) advances to the quarterfinal round to face top-seeded Troy, which won the 2022 Sun Belt regular-season championship, Tip-off is slated for Friday at 11:30 a.m. CT at the Pensacola Bay Center and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

Blount finished the game 14-of-18 from the floor, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. She flirted with the Sun Belt Conference tournament scoring record of 48 points set by Middle Tennessee’s Alysha Clark set at the 2010 event. 

Tyra Brown (17) and Arin Freeman (10) also scored in double figures for the Chanticleers. Janeen Camp brought down a game-high 13 rebounds. 

As a team, the Chanticleers shot 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the field and connected on 27-of-34 free-throw attempts. Coastal Carolina out-rebounded the Red Wolves, 49-25. 

The two teams battled evenly to begin the game until Coastal Carolina, leading by two, 23-21, at the 5:24 mark of the second quarter, went on a 10-0 run that was capped by a three-pointer from Blount. Coastal Carolina would never look back. 

Arkansas State (12-16) swiped an impressive 21 steals in the game. That was just shy of the SBC Tournament record of 23 steals set by Troy in 2016. Jireh Washington scored a career-high 30 points to lead Arkansas State. Lauryn Pendleton, the 2022 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, added 14 points and five steals.