MOBILE, Ala. –The University of South Alabama women's basketball heads back on the road to face the two Arkansas Sun Belt schools, starting with Arkansas State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
 
Fans can watch the game on ESPN3 through WatchESPN, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.

The meeting between South Alabama and Arkansas State will mark the 46th in the all-time series between the two clubs.  The Red Wolves hold a 35-10 record in the series.  Arkansas State swept last year's series and has won seven straight against South Alabama.  The Jaguars last win against the Red Wolves was a 53-47 victory in the Mitchell Center on Dec. 29, 2012 and was the third-straight win in the series for the Jags.

Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler is 0-6 against the Red Wolves while 18th-year Arkansas State head coach Brian Boyer is 18-9 against the Jags.  The Jags will host the Red Wolvers in the last game of the regular season on Saturday, March 4 at 1:00 p.m.

In its last game South Alabama fell to Texas State (6-9, 2-3) 57-44 on Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.  Texas State scored the first basket of the game a minute into it and never trailed, with the game being tied up just once at 7-7 four minutes into the game.  Entering the second half trailing 26-20 South Alabama was able to make it a one-possession game five different times, but Texas State responded by making the next basket in the game to never let the Jaguars take the lead or tie up the score.  With the Jaguars trailing by just one point two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bobcats went on a 15-2 run that covered over six minutes to secure the victory.  South Alabama turned the ball over five times and gave up four offensive rebounds during the run and also was just 2-9 (22.2%) from the field in the quarter.

Texas State had the edge in rebounding (44-34) that included 12 offensive boards and in points the paint (30-24) while shooting 40.6% (26-64) from the field and 27.8% (5-18) from three while going 0-4 at the free throw line.

Colby Davis was the only Jaguar to score in double-digits with 12 points on 5-10 shooting and also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals.  Genesis Perrymond had nine points with five rebounds and a game-high three steals.

With just one more block this season Chyna Ellis will have sole possession of second place in the program's all-time career blocked shots leaders with 184, moving ahead of Genevieve Delt (2002-05).  Against Texas-Arlington she passed Adrian Vickers' 178 (1987-90) for third place.  To become the all-time leader in rejections by the end of this regular season, she would need to average 2.0 per game the rest of the year.  She currently averages 3.0 per game.

Ellis is also on pace for 88 rejections this season, which would surpass LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) single-season blocks record of 86 in 1983.  Also she only needs four more blocks to have the 10th most rejections in a single season.

Arkansas State (3-14, 1-4) enters the game on a three-game losing streak, dropping a home game to Louisiana-Lafayette 80-72 on New Years' Eve and three road games against Little Rock 73-59 last Saturday and Appalachian State 76-50 and Coastal Carolina 57-55 two weeks ago.  With a 1-4 conference record the Red Wolves are one game behind the Jaguars in the conference standing and tied with Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Louisiana-Monroe.

Receiving 80 points the Red Wolves were picked to finish seventh in the preseason conference coaches' poll and have lost four-straight games in Sun Belt play for the first since the 2011-12 season.  Arkansas State entered the season with seven true freshmen on the squad, the most ever under Boyer.

Arkansas State allows the most points per game in the conference (73.9) and have the worst field goal percentage defense (.455), defensive rebounds per game (22.1) and assists per game (9.1 assists per game) and second worst scoring margin (-13.1 ppg, rebounding margin (-6.8 rebounds per game) and field goal percentage (35.8%).  Shooting 35.6% (99-278) from three the Red Wolves have the highest three-point percentage in the league and rank 50th in the nation in the category.

Senior guard Brittany Fowler has the second best percentage in the conference (45.5%) while senior guard Dominique Oliver ranks 9th at 35.4% and freshman guard Jada Ford at 13th (31.9%).  Ford leads the team in scoring at 11.9 ppg, the 11th best average in the conference.  Oliver ranks 19th in the conference in scoring (10.7 ppg) and leads the team in assists (2.8 apg).  Junior forward Lauren Bradshaw leads the team in rebounding (6.5 rpg) and blocks (26).

The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.

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).