HUNTINGTON -- The difference a day makes turns out to be nine points.
At least that was the case Saturday when Coastal Carolina (19-6, 9-5 Sun Belt Conference) defeated Marshall 66-57 in women's college basketball at Cam Henderson Center.
The Chanticleers, winners of six straight, last played Wednesday, beating Georgia Southern 67-56. The Thundering Herd (8-18, 3-11) played Thursday, topping Old Dominion 73-70 in overtime.
Marshall coach Juli Fulks and junior guard C.C. Mays said Coastal Carolina, which scored the first eight points, earned the win, but fatigue was a factor.
"We could not have started the game worse," Fulks said. "We didn't have the intensity we needed. They converted a couple of turnovers for layups right away and that made it really, really hard. Even after that tough start, we got more shots up than them; the rebounding was even. Some things happen when you're tired. Thursday, going late took a ton of energy, and they had an extra day's rest. Shooting is hard when you're tired."
The Chanticleers, who defeated the Herd 76-64 on Jan. 29 in Conway, South Carolina, never trailed. They led by 11 after one quarter, only to see the Herd pull within 21-19 on a 3-pointer by Aislynn Hayes 6:32 before halftime.
Coastal Carolina took a 34-26 lead into halftime, then started the third quarter with a 9-2 run. The Chanticleers' largest advantage was 18 points.
Marshall cut the deficit to 61-52 on a 3-point play by Timberlynn Yeast with 4:18 left, but drew no closer.
Marshall made 20 of 59 shots (33.9%), including 9 of 32 (29.4%) from 3-point range. Both those marks are slightly below what the Herd averages.
"We had a lot of really good looks within the system," Fulks said. "We were open from 3. We had some really good looks inside that we missed. We got enough shots. We just didn't shoot it particularly well."
The tired legs also affected Marshall's defense.
"There were a couple of possessions when we just didn't look like we had the legs to defend and someone got by us," Fulks said.
The Herd's first-year coach said not all was bad in the loss in front of an announced crowd of 1,035.
"That's going to help us," Fulks said. "Sometimes you have to play closer to back-to-back to replicate what the tournament is going to be like because there's no days off. Good or bad, we're still getting more people to play and we're going to need everybody down the stretch."
Meredith Maier, Marshall's leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, returned after missing all but nine minutes of the last three games because of a knee injury. She scored six points in 16 minutes.
Mays led the Herd with 20 points and eight rebounds. Aislynn Hayes scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Mays said she thought Marshall was tired.
"I think it definitely showed a little bit," Mays said. "That's not an excuse. We have to find a way. The tournament's going to be hard because we have to play back-to-back-to-back. Yes, we were fatigued but we have to find a way to push through."
Alancia Ramsey paced Coastal Carolina with 16 points. Jayden Marable chipped in 11 points. Jaylen Ponder snagged eight rebounds.
Both teams return to action Wednesday. The Herd visits Appalachian State (13-11, 9-4) at 6:30 p.m. The Chanticleers entertain Georgia Southern (12-15, 4-10) at 6 p.m.
