MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball takes on Louisiana-Monroe on the road on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.  The game will be part of a doubleheader with the men's teams playing afterwards.
 
Fans can watch the game through ULMWarhawks.com, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via ULMWarhawks.com.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Louisiana- Monroe will mark the 23rd in the all-time series between the two clubs.  South Alabama holds a 13-9 record in the series, but the Warhawks won the last meeting 67-54 on Feb. 25 last year at the Mitchell Center.  The Jaguars defeated the Warhaws 63-57 on Jan. 23rd last season on the road to improve to 6-4 against them on the road.  The two schools began facing each other as Sun Belt Conference opponents in the 2007-08 season.
 
Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler is 2-4 against the Warhawks, and third-year Louisiana-Monroe head coach Jeff Dow is 3-1 against the Jags
 
South Alabama fell to Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday night.  The Ragin' Cajuns' Jaylyn Gordon scored 19 of her 29 points in the first half as they lead the Jaguars by double-digits for the nearly the entire time after the first quarter.  The two teams traded baskets in the first four minutes of the game, but Louisiana-Lafayette went on a 7-2 run to start separating itself.  The Ragin' Cajuns ripped off a 13-2 run and led 38-22 at halftime.
 
South Alabama limited Louisiana-Lafayette to 11 points in the third quarter, but allowed Gordon to add eight more points, the same amount the Jags had in the quarter.  The Jags were unable to score double-digits in the fourth quarter, once again scoring just eight points.
 
The Jags finished the game shooting 34% (17-50) from the field, 17.6% (3-17) from three and 33.3% from the charity stripe with a season-low one make and three attempts.  South Alabama lost the turnover battle (21-13) that led to a 15-9 edge for Louisiana-Lafayette in points off turnovers.
 
Chyna Ellis and Candice Williams both had a team-high eight points.  Ellis also grabbed five rebounds, had a steal and blocked a game-high four shots.  Kennedi Centers grabbed a game-high and career-high 11 rebounds, tied for the third-most by a Jag this season.
 
Ellis enters the game averaging 2.9 rejections per game that tops the Sun Belt and ranks 14th in the NCAA.  She has recorded a block in each game played this season and is 16th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (61).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than four of the schools in the conference have as a team.
 
With 61 blocks she already is tied for the fifth-most blocks in a season in program history, tying Adrian Vickers' 1990 total with four blocks at Louisiana-Lafayette.  With 199 career blocks, she would need to average just 1.5 per game the rest of the year to become the all-time leader in rejections by the end of this season.  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.
 
Louisiana-Monroe (5-17, 2-10) enters the game with a three-game losing streak and just one win in the past seven games.  With a 2-10 record in the Sun Belt Conference, the Warhawks are last in the conference standings and just a half game below the Jags.
 
Louisiana-Monroe ranks second to least in the league in scoring offense (56.2 ppg), three-point field goal percentage (26.4%), assists (10.5 apg), and last in scoring defense (73.8 ppg), steals (5.0 spg), turnover margin (-7.7 tpg), assist/turnover ratio (0.5) and three-point field goal percentage defense (35.6%).  The Warhawks are one of the better teams in shot blocking outside of the Jags with the third-most blocks (4.2 bpg) in the SBC.
 
Junior guard Alexis Collins leads the team in scoring, assists, assist/turnover ratio and free throw percentage, ranking 12th in the league in scoring (12.3 ppg), second in assists (3.9 apg), 11th in turnover ratio (0.8) and 13th in shooting at the charity stripe (75%).  Junior forward Gabriella Cortez is the only other double-digit scorer, ranking 16th in the SBC at 11.3 ppg.  Senior center Stephanie Ratliff has been one of the top defensive post players in the conference, ranking seventh in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and second in blocked shots (2.3 bpg) right behind Chyna Ellis.
 
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).