CLEVELAND, Miss. – Mary Carol Davis recorded her first career double-double to lead Delta State University (20-6) to a 58-42 win over Christian Brothers University (11-15) in the first round of the 2016 VisitFloridaSpaceCoast.com Gulf South Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday at Walter Sillers Coliseum. Davis recorded 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while senior Chelsey Rhodes led the Lady Statesmen with 21 points.
 
Inside the Matchup

• Score: Delta State 58 | Christian Brothers 42
• Matchup: Lady Statesmen (20-6) | Buccaneers (11-16)
• Series: Delta State leads 41-3
• Date: Tues., March 1, 2016 | 6 p.m. (CST)
• Location: Walter Sillers Coliseum | Cleveland, Miss.

How It Happened

• Samantha Reeves gave Christian Brothers an 11-8 lead with 2:13 left in the first quarter.
• Chelsey Rhodes jumper with 18 seconds left in the opening quarter cut the CBU lead to 11-10 heading into the second quarter.
• Delta State opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run to take an 18-11 lead on a Mary Carol Davis basket with 3:20 to go before halftime.
• The Lady Statesmen outscored the Buccaneers 16-2 in the second quarter to hold a 26-13 halftime lead.
• Anissa Jackson gave the Lady Statesmen 39-18 lead at the 4:24 mark of the third quarter.
• CBU used a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to 41-27 on a Madison Luckett layup with nine seconds left in the third.
• The Buccaneers cut the lead to 41-28 early in the fourth quarter before the Lady Statesmen extended the lead to 52-33 after an Alondrea Rush 3-pointer with 5:44 remaining.
• Delta State's lead never got below 16 points the rest of the way en route to the 58-42 victory.

Notables              

• The Lady Statesmen are seeking their 16^th GSC Women's Basketball Tournament title and the first since 2008-09. DSU has finished as the GSC Tournament runner-up the last two seasons.
• The Lady Statesmen have held opponents to single digits in 23 quarters after holding Christian Brothers two points in the second quarter.
• Delta State won its 12^th straight GSC Tournament first round game and improved to 26-2 all-time in the opening round.
• Rhodes' 21 points increased her career points to 1,722 points, ranking sixth on the DSU's all-time scoring list.
• Rhodes made 1-of-4 3-pointers and is 198-of-597 for her career from long range, ranking second in both categories.
• Davis' 12 points and 10 rebounds marked her first career-double-double and the third double-double (Kaelin Kneeland and Becca Ruckes) by a Lady Statesmen this season. Davis was one point shy of her career-high.
• Anissa Jackson's added 12 points and seven rebounds.
• Delta State has held 25-of-26 opponents to an average of 15.1 points below their season average
• The Lady Statesmen claimed their fourth straight win over the Buccaneers and improved to 21-0 at Walter Sillers Coliseum.
• Head Coach Craig Roden claimed his 535^th career win.

Who's Next?

• Delta State advances to play Shorter University in the GSC Tournament Semifinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Pete Hanna Arena on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.