BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The College of Coastal Georgia women's basketball team dropped a close contest with the Ave Maria Gyrenes on Saturday afternoon, losing by a final of 56-50 in their final game of the 2023-24 season. 

It took three minutes of game time for the first basket to fall, a three from the Gyrenes (19-9, 10-4 TSC) Katie Ambrose, which sparked a quick 6-0 run. After falling behind, the Mariners (7-19, 1-13 TSC) immediately answered with a massive 16-2 run, with a three pointer by Iesha Rhodin getting things started. Adding onto the onslaught was Morgon Webb who drained a pair of threes, with Ja'Khyla Johnson, Brinyia Rolax, and Jasmin Worsley adding buckets of their own, as CCGA took a 16-8 lead late in the first. The Mariners also closed out the quarter strong with a pair of layups from Andranique Voorhees, leading by a score of 20-10 going into the second. 

In the second quarter, neither side could get anything going as both teams combined for just six field goals and shot the ball 21 percent from the field. Neither side could cash in a three point attempt, and four of CCGA's eight points in the quarter came from the charity stripe. Despite the struggles, the Mariners persevered and took an eight point lead into the half, leading 28-20.

Voorhees and Webb lead the way at the break with eight points each, with Voorhees also adding seven rebounds. For the Gyrenes, Colleen Shanahan led in scoring with six. 

The Mariners continued to struggle finding the basket coming out of the break, scoring just seven points in the third frame and making just one basket, which was a jumper by Rhodin. Meanwhile, the Gyrenes had their best quarter of the game, scoring 18 points on 7-18 shooting to take a 38-35 lead into the fourth and final frame. 

The fourth started off with fireworks as the Mariners answered a basket from Shanahan with a four point play from Webb to cut the deficit to one with just seven minutes left in the contest. Out of the media timeout, Johnson made a pull up jumper on the baseline to give the Mariners their first lead since the third quarter. The lead changed hands once again, this time in favor of the Gyrenes on a three by Casey Humphrey to give Ave Maria a two point lead with just over three minutes left in the game. With the lead up to six for the Gyrenes, a floater from Johnson cut the lead back to four, as Ave Maria led 52-48 with one minute remaining, forcing a Gyrenes timeout. The Mariners forced a miss out of the break, and on the ensuing possession, Sonia Forney drew a foul and went 2-2 to cut the lead down to two, forcing another timeout from Ave Maria. Out of the timeout, the Mariners sent Maria Kuhlman to the line who went 1-2, as the Gyrenes clung to a 53-50 lead with 23 seconds on the clock. Forney missed a layup out of the break, as Elena Barnes went to the line this time, and she also made 1-2, extending the lead to four. With just seconds left, Webb missed a three and Kuhlman made a pair at the line to increase the lead to six with just four seconds remaining. Coastal got one more shot off before the horn, but did not convert, dropping their final home game of 2023-24 by a final score of 56-50. 

Webb finished as the leading scorer for CCGA with 18 points and shot 4-8 from the three point line, while Johnson and Voorhies added eight points each. The Mariners shot the ball at a 31 percent clip for the game and 33 percent from three. 

The Mariners finish their 2023-24 season with a final record of 7-19 while finishing 1-13 in Sun Conference play.