MOBILE, Ala. – After playing only once at home during the month of November, the University of South Alabama women's basketball team will begin a four-game homestand against Southern Miss on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Fans can watch the game on JagNationTV.com, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
Fans attending the game are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal to the game for the Teddy Bear Toss. During halftime you can toss the stuffed animal onto the court and the closest to the center of the court will win a prize from South Alabama Athletics.  Afterwards all stuffed animals will be collected and donated to Caring Tree Toys.
 
The Jaguars' lone home game came back on Nov. 17 in a 38-33 win against Spring Hill.  South Alabama dropped its first two games of the season to No. 20/24 Florida 85-33 and at UCF 70-58 and won at New Orleans 65-62 on Nov. 19.
 
"It's very important for us to be return home in the Mitchell Center this month," said head coach Terry Fowler.  "Any time you come into the season and then take care of your home games and split on the road, you're going to have a decent season.  We have an opportunity to gain some traction with doing this four-game home stretch."
 
Last week South Alabama split its pair of games at the Jacksonville Thanksgiving Classic, beating North Florida 62-55 last Friday before having its three game-winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon by the host Jacksonville 62-55.  Against Jacksonville the Jaguars led by one point with 1:36 remaining but the Dolphins ended the game on an 8-0 run.
 
Redshirt-sophomore forward Erin Autio was the leading scorer in the loss at Jacksonville with a dozen points and also had six boards and a game-high three blocks, and senior guard Colby Davis was the only other double-digit scorer for South Alabama with 11 points.  In the win against North Florida Davis had 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and a game-high two steals while junior center Chyna Ellis also had 16 points along with seven boards and a tie for a game-high two blocks.
 
"I thought we played well enough to win both games last week," said head coach Terry Fowler.  "Basically it comes down to the Jacksonville game in the last two minutes of the game we had to good opportunities at the basket we weren't able to convert. It could have been the difference in the ball game.  It's just a matter of us continuing to improve every day while we work get better."
 
 Southern Miss (6-1) enters the game with a three game-winning streak after beating Mississippi Valley State 83-55 at home on Thursday and defeating Alcorn State 99-56 and Louisiana-Lafayette 71-49 in its home tournament last week, the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic.  The only loss came in the Lady Eagles' lone road game at Tulane (86-67) on Nov. 20.  Southern Miss opened the season with home wins against New Orleans (78-53), William Carey (92-39) and Alabama State (70-43).  Last season Southern Miss finished 14-16, 7-11 to tie for sixth place in Conference USA.   Four starters and five other letterwinners return from last year's squad.

"Southern Miss is a team that really gets after it with a press," said Fowler.  "They're playing with a smaller team than what they've had in the past.  They play extremely hard and are well-coached.  There are many dynamic scorers on the team, so that presents some problems for us since it's not one particular lady your trying to stop.  At any time on the court they can hit you with three or four different options.
 
The Lady Eagles are averaging 80.0 points a game this season and has out-rebounded every opponent by an average of 10.6 per game.  Southern Miss has forced at least 20 turnovers every game and set an all-time single game turnover record against William Carey.   Senior guard Brittanny Dinkins is leading the scoring effort with 19.6 points per game and has a 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio, and junior forward Jayla King (12.9 ppg) is the only other player averaging over 10.0 points per game.  King leads the effort on the glass with 7.7 rebounds a game.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).