MOBILE, Ala. –The University of South Alabama women's basketball will look to "Pack the House" Thursday morning as the Jaguars welcome Georgia State to the Mitchell Center.  Tip-off versus the Panthers is set for 11 a.m.
 
"The 'Pack the House' game is always a special game for our players," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "It provides a great experience for our kids with anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 screaming kids cheering the team on.  It's always a great atmosphere for us to play in, and I'm really excited that we are once again able to be part of the event."
 
The game is part of South Alabama's annual "Pack the House" event and will mark the sixth season that USA has hosted the event.  The Jags are expecting around 3,000 local elementary and middle school children to attend the contest.  The students will be able to attend a career fair on the concourse level prior to tip off.
 
In those previous five games, USA has been successful, holding a 3-2 record in those outings.  Last season, the Jaguars fell to Texas State 73-71 in front of 2,861 fans in the 18th highest attended women's basketball game in the Mitchell Center.
 
Fans can watch the game through USAJaguars.com/watch, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
For this game against Georgia State and Saturday's game versus Georgia Southern, South Alabama and the rest of the Sun Belt Conference will be participating in Suits and Sneakers week as part of Coaches vs. Cancer.  The Sun Belt teams are unifying in showing support for Appalachian State head coach Angel Elderkin, who is currently fighting to defeat endometrial cancer after being diagnosed with the cancer during the summer, by raising awareness and collecting donations towards cancer research, along with the local staff from the American Cancer Society.
 
Elderkin finished her final treatment in November and was announced as the co-recipient with ESPN's Holly Rowe of the USBWA Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award and will be honored at the women's Final Four in Dallas in April. The male coaches and staff members will wear sneakers with their suits, and all teams will be wearing t-shirts dedicated to this cause in warm-ups and on the bench.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Georgia State will mark the 11th in the all-time series between the two clubs.  Georgia State and South Alabama have split the series with five wins apiece.  The Jaguars won in Atlanta earlier on Jan. 7 this year, 77-47, for their largest margin of victory of the year and have won three-straight against the Eagles.  The two schools split the season series in the first year (2013-14) they played each other as Sun Belt opponents.
 
Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler and seventh-year Georgia State head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener have led the two schools in all seven Sun Belt matchups, with Fowler having the edge with a 4-3 record.  The Jags swept the series last season, and the Panthers swept the series the previous year.  Last year South Alabama won 83-45 in Mobile on Feb. 11th in the most lopsided game between them.
 
South Alabama cruised past Georgia State in the 77-47 victory earlier this season.  All 11 Jaguars that played scored in the game as the team shot 48.3% (28-58) from the field, 33.3% (7-21) from three and 70% (14-20) at the free throw line.  South Alabama outscored Georgia State 45-15 in the first half.  The Panthers scored the first basket of the game, and then the Jaguars went on a 17-2 run.  The lead grew to 30 with a little over three minutes remaining in the first half.
 
South Alabama shot 55.6% (15-27) from the field (a season-high for the first half), 46.2% (6-13) from three and 75% (9-12) from the charity stripe in the first half.  The 24 points in first quarter were the most the Jags have scored in any quarter this season. The Jags had season-highs in assists (20) and field goals (28), tied a season-high in made three-point field goals (seven) and turned the ball over a season-low nine times.  South Alabama enjoyed a 27-9 advantage in points off turnovers, 12-2 in fast break points and 30-13 in points off the bench.
 
South Alabama had four double-digit scorers:  Chyna Ellis (14 points), LaNeetra Guillory (12), Genesis Perrymond (12) and Candice Williams (10).  Ellis tied her season-high in blocks with a game-high five rejections and five rebounds, two assists and a steal.  Perrymond dished out a career-high seven assists, tied a career-high with four steals and had four rebounds.
 
"Georgia State didn't have one of their best players, Tiffany Holston, against us," said Fowler.  "I expect them to come out very aggressive and set the tone early.  We have to be prepared for that early push."
 
The Jaguars enter the game on a four-game losing streak after they fell at Little Rock 71-54 on Saturday afternoon.  The Trojans ended the third quarter on a 10-2 run for a 16-point lead, and the deficit was insurmountable for the Jaguars as they were never able to even to cut it down to single digits the rest of the game.  The two teams played even for the first seven minutes of the third quarter as both scored 17 points apiece.  Little Rock ended the third quarter on a 10-2 run.  In the fourth quarter Little Rock went on a 9-0 run to make it 67-47 for its biggest lead of the game.
 
"The team needs to put 40 minutes together," said Fowler.  "We haven't really done that yet, starting from the loss to Texas State. We probably played 15 solid minutes at Arkansas State and 20 at Little Rock.  We need complete games, not halves.  Looking at the film from the Georgia road trip, our team was totally engaged and fully focused for the entire game."
 
The two teams went back-and-forth in the first quarter with two lead changes and four times the score being tied.  The even level of play continued for the first five minutes of action in the second quarter.  Little Rock started to distance itself with a 7-2 run for a 25-20 lead with 2:23 remaining in the first half. The Trojans ended the half with a 6-1 run for a 31-23 lead entering halftime.  South Alabama had three players score in double-digits: Ellis (15 points), Guillory (11) and Colby Davis (10).
 
"In the 20 or so minute spurts where we play well, our defense stood out with how engaged we were," said Fowler.  "On offense we moving and sharing the ball.  In those stretches we play with complete confidence, and we need to return to that."
 
Ellis leads the Sun Belt in blocks per game (3.0) and ranks 15th in the NCAA.  She has recorded a block in all 16 games played this season and is 16th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (49).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than five of the schools in the conference have as a team.
 
With a block at Arkansas State, she now has have sole possession of second place in the program's all-time career blocked shots leaders, moving ahead of Genevieve Delt (2002-05).  Against Texas-Arlington she passed Adrian Vickers (1987-90) for third place.  To become the all-time leader in rejections by the end of this season, she would need to average 2.0 per game the rest of the year.
 
With 49 blocks she is already tied for 10th-most blocks in a season in program history.  She is also on pace for 84 rejections this season, which would surpass her blocked shot total (82) from last year and be two short of LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) single-season blocks record of 86 in 1983.
 
Georgia State (5-13, 1-6) enters the game on a six-game losing streak, its longest of the season, and has not won since winning at Georgia Southern 58-54 on New Year's Eve.  With a 1-6 record in the Sun Belt Conference, the Panthers are tied with Louisiana-Monroe for the bottom spot in the conference standings.
 
The Panthers rank in the bottom third in scoring defense (ninth at 69.6 ppg), scoring margin (ninth at -7.6 ppg), field goal percentage (10th at 36.5%), three-point field goal percentage (ninth at 28.3%), three-point field goals per game (ninth at 4.2), three-point field goal defense (11th at 34.4%), turnover margin (-1.2 turnovers per game).  Georgia State has been one of the better teams in the conference in offensive rebounding, ranking second in offensive boards per game (16.1) and offensive rebounding percentage (38.7%).
 
Senior forward Tiffany Holston has been one of the top post players in the SBC so far.  Holston is tied for the league lead in rebounding (9.5 rpg), seventh in field goal percentage (44.3%), 13th in blocked shots (0.6 bpg) and 20th in scoring (10.4 ppg).  The graduate transfer has amassed 1,000 rebounds in her collegiate career.  She missed the game earlier this year against South Alabama.  Freshman guard Jada Lewis has the fourth-best three point percentage (40.0%) and 10th highest free throw percentage (80.5%) and ranks 20th in scoring (10.3 ppg) as the only other double-digit scorer for the Panthers.  Lewis has scored 19 or more points in four of her last eight games.  Junior guard Makeba Ponder has been one of the best shooters from deep in program history, making 153 three's in her career that ranks third-best all-time by a Panther.  This year Ponder is shooting 29.5% from three and averaging 1.9 three's per game.
 
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).