JACKSONVILLE – Sometimes you have to lose a game to learn to how to win another one.

That was the object lesson Bethune-Cookman Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis told her Lady Wildcats they had to take away from Wednesday's 58-56 quality road win at Jacksonville.

Three days after a disappointing one-point loss at Georgia Southern, the Lady Wildcats (4-2) solved the primary problem of that defeat to register their first road victory of the season as well as snap a skid of five straight non-conference road setbacks dating to last season.

That problem? Rebounding.

On Sunday, Georgia Southern outrebounded BCU 48-32 – 16-3 in the fourth quarter alone and snagged 19 offensive rebounds, including one in the final seconds that gave the Eagles a chance to steal the win.

On Wednesday, BCU outrebounded Jacksonville 41-36, ending a string of four games of being outrebounded.

"We had to learn," Blair-Lewis said. "On both ends, we were doing a great job of the boards. We showed resilience and weathered the storm."

Leading that rebounding charge was senior Angel Golden. You want symbolic? The shooting guard was the team's top rebounder with a career-high 10 – giving her a career first double-double. She had two offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter as BCU tried to weather Jacksonville (3-4) making its run to eliminate a 53-43 deficit.

When Golden wasn't rebounding, she was being Angel Golden. She scored the Lady Wildcats' first 11 points  – outscoring Jacksonville  single-handedly at the first media timeout --  en route to a game-high 21.

"She refused to lose," Blair-Lewis said of Golden. "That was an amazing start and we kept going to her." 

Veterans Chasimmie Brown and Armani Walker also delivered. Brown had an eight-point, eight-rebound night while leading the Lady Wildcat post effort while Blair-Lewis credited Walker for her defense of Jacksonville's Jasmyn Brown.

It was also a night for the newcomers. Kiana Williams, who put BCU ahead with eight seconds remaining at  Georgia Southern, went déjà vu all over again by hitting the game-winner on a jumper from the left side of the line with 6.6 seconds remaining. Before that, the Lady Wildcats' only fourth quarter points were two Tania White free throws and another from Amaya Scott.

Jacksonville tied the game on a Kiara Meeks lay-up with 1:46 to play. A steal by Walker and the final of Golden's boards set the stage for Williams' go-ahead jumper.

Williams finished with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals while White, another freshman, had  10 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

B-CU plays at Florida next Wednesday.
 
 
NOTES: BCU has now won its last eight games played on Wednesdays dating back to 2016 … The win clinched BCU's ninth straight month with a winning record (and 10^th non-losing month) … Three of BCU's six games have been decided by five points or less … Overlooked will be that the Lady Wildcats' 77.3 free throw percentage was its best of the season … Golden now needs 52 points to reach 1,000 points … Brown has tied Lyndsey Edwards for sixth on the all-time blocked shots list with 75 … The BCU men and women are now a combined 3-0 vs. the Atlantic Sun Conference this season.