MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball takes on Louisiana-Lafayette on the road on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
 
Fans can watch the game through RaginCajuns.com/watch, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette will mark the 51st in the all-time series between the two clubs, and South Alabama holds a 36-10 record in the series and won the last meeting.  The Jaguars defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 68-59 on Feb. 22nd last year at the Mitchell Center to improve to 20-4 against them at home.  Louisiana-Lafayette beat South Alabama at home last year 69-50 on Jan. 21st and has won two straight at the Cajundome.
 
Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler is 2-4 against the Ragin' Cajuns, and fifth-year Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Gerry Brodhead is 4-4 against the Jags.  All but three meetings have come with the two being Sun Belt Conference members.
 
South Alabama had a four-point lead slip away in its last game at Troy with a little over two minutes remaining in the 75-71 loss to the Trojans.  Troy jumped out to a 12-2 lead to start the game.  The two teams traded baskets afterwards as the Trojans outscored the Jags 20-9 in the first quarter.  The Jaguars rallied back from a 17-point early in the second quarter.  Trailing 45-34 at halftime South Alabama outscored Troy 21-13 in the third quarter and led for almost eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
 
South Alabama started the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run for its first lead of the game.  LaNeetra Guillory made a layup with 3:25 remaining to give the Jags a five-point lead.  After the Jags went up by five points on Guillory's layup, they went 0-6 from the field and 2-6 at the line with three turnovers to end the game.
 
South Alabama shot 44.6% (25-56) from the field, 27.3% (6-22) from three and 15-21 (71.4%) from the line.  Troy was just 36.1% (26-72) from the field, but went 8-18 (44.1%) from three and 75% (15-20) from the charity stripe. 
 
Colby Davis scored a game-high and season-high 20 points and tied a career-high in made field goals by going 7-11 from the field.  She also had five rebounds and three assists.  Chyna Ellis recorded her fourth and second-straight double-double of the year with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, matching her season-high rebounding total from the previous game against Georgia Southern.  She also shared  game-high in blocks (two) and steals (three).
 
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 18th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (57).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than four of the schools in the conference have as a team.
 
With 57 blocks she already has the sixth-most blocks in a season in program history, surpassing her freshman total of 56 for sixth place with two blocks at Troy last Saturday.  With 195 career blocks, she would need to average 1.8 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 83 rejections this season, which would surpass her blocked shot total (82) from last year and be three short of LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) single-season blocks record of 86 in 1983.
 
Louisiana-Lafayette (12-8, 6-5) enters the game having lost four of its past six games.  With a 6-5 record in the Sun Belt Conference, the Ragin' Cajuns are tied for fourth-place with Georgia Southern (6-5) in the conference standings, three games behind second-place Texas-Arlington (8-2) and Troy (8-2) and a half game ahead of sixth-place Texas State (6-4).
 
The Ragin' Cajuns are second in the league in turnover margin (+4.2 turnovers per game) and assist/turnover ratio (0.9) and third in scoring offense (69.0 ppg), field goal percentage (41.1%) and three-point field goal percentage (32.0%).  Louisiana-Lafayette ranks last in the SBC in field goal percentage defense (43.7%) and blocked shots (1.3 bpg).  The Ragin' Cajuns have two of the top six scorers in the conference.  Senior guard Jaylyn Gordon (18.5 ppg) leads the league and junior forward Simone Fields (14.9 ppg) ranks sixth.
 
Gordon also is tops in three's made (2.9 per game) and minutes played (38.5 per game) and ranks fifth in three-point field goal percentage (36.9%), seventh in assist to turnover ratio and  ninth in assists per game (3.2 apg).  Fields is also third in field goal percentage (55.1%) and sixth in rebounding (7.5 rpg).  Freshman guard Jasmine Thomas is the only other player averaging double-digits at 10.4 ppg and also is sixth in steals (1.9 spg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2), 10th in minutes played (31.5 per game) and 11th in assists (3.1 apg).
 
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).