Trend of Second Half Comebacks Continue to Be Successful for Marshall Women’s Basketball

 By Ben Anderson


    The trend of second-half comebacks at the Cam Henderson Center continued for Marshall women’s basketball as the Herd prevailed over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers 80-74 on Saturday Afternoon. 


    The Herd after showing solid defense in the first quarter, holding the visitors from Conway, South Carolina to just 15 points, suffocated in the second as the Chanticleers connected on 5-of-6 from 3-point range to drop 31 points in the quarter. Marshall Women’s Basketball head coach Juli Fulks said that the Herd needs to stop having the one bad quarter moving forward.


    “We really want to be able to defend,” Fulks said. “And we held them under 15 or under in three quarters which has been our MO, and we’ve got to stop having that quarter that blows up on us.” 


    The Herd tipped off its comeback in the fourth quarter, stampeding the Chanticleers 24-13 in the quarter with 7:40 left in the game, the Chanticleers held a 66-60 lead. The Herd then scored nine straight on two triples by Peyton Ilderton and a trifecta by Timberlynn Yeast to give the Herd a three-point lead. Ilderton said that her never give up mentality kept her calm and ready for the situation.


    “I feel comfortable in those moments,” Ilderton said. “Pretty calm. I have that refuse-to-lose mentality. So, if we’re down going into the fourth, I know that this team has so much fight in them. So, it doesn’t worry me at all.” 


    The Logan, West Virginia native scored 11 points in the final frame, shooting 4-for-4 from the field, while also finishing the contest with a season-high 20 points, and 5 assists. 


    Another big performance for the Thundering Herd came from junior transfer from Tusculum Ni’Kiah Chesterfield, knocking down two buckets from behind the arc, and scoring a career-high 18 points off the bench. Fulks said that Chesterfield’s great shooting day comes at the hands of the team adjusting to a high 3-point shooting playstyle.


    “Ki (Ni’Kiah) is a really good shooter,” Fulks said. “And we have started shooting more 3’s and her two 3’s really mattered.” 


    Marshall for the second straight game was without freshman and second-leading scorer Olivia Olson, who was out with a leg injury. Fulks said that the Herd needs to keep adjusting their style each week in order to continue the success, even with Olson out. 


    “We’ve been able to string 10 wins together,” Fulks said. “But I can still see 20 possessions that we can be way better at on defense and offense, and we’ve got to keep making sure every week we look different.” 


    Leading the way for the Chanticleers in the loss was Wisconsin transfer Tessa Grady converting 7-for-11 from the field for 20 points. 


    The Thundering Herd found success in scoring off turnovers, finishing with 11 steals, and forcing 17 turnovers for 19 points. The Chanticleers only forced 6 turnovers with no points to prevail. 


    With the win, Marshall extends its winning streak to 10 games to improve to 15-3, (6-0) in Sun Belt Conference play, maintaining a share of first place and achieving its best 18-game start since the 1986-87 season. The Chanticleers fell to 8-10, (1-5).


    Marshall now shifts its focus to a four-game road stretch starting on Thursday night against the James Madison Dukes and extend its winning streak to 11 games for the first time since winning 12-straight in the 2004-2005 season.  


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