MOBILE, Ala. ? Behind a tenacious defense and the offense of Whitney Woodard, Monique Jones and Cortney Brown, the South Alabama women’s basketball team captured a 71-43 victory over regional rival West Florida Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell Center in exhibition action.
“We missed some easy opportunities especially early on in the first half,” said South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri. “In the second half, I think offensively we just relaxed a little bit more and were able to finish more plays. I felt we played good enough defensively today, other than the fact that we committed too many fouls. We have to defend aggressively without fouling. When we guarded solidly, I thought we caused (West Florida) some problems and made it difficult for them to score. I thought Petra Jacob and Jeannette Tucker were both solid today for us splitting time at the point position, particularly on the defensive end.”
South Alabama will tip-off the regular season Sunday (Nov. 12) when it welcomes cross-town rival Spring Hill to the Mitchell Center at 4 p.m.
USA a came out in the first half and held a four point advantage on multiple occasions early on. Jag newcomer Jeanette Tucker sank a jumper at the 8:49 mark to give the Lady Jags a 16-12 advantage. UWF’s Samantha Schlaegel answered Tucker’s basket 15 seconds later with a three-pointer from the right arc. The bucket by Schlaegel ignited a 10-2 Lady Argonaut spurt that saw the visitors take a 22-18 lead after an Albena Bosna jumper with five minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the opening half. Coming out of the under four media timeout, the Jags offense and defense came to life. USA was able to work its way to the free throw line, capturing its next five points at the charity stripe. After a pair of Brown shots from the line at the 2:38 mark, South Alabama reclaimed the lead for good. The five straight Jaguar free throws started a 10-0 run to end the half and was aided by four South Alabama steals.
Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Jags kept the momentum, hitting 10 of their first 13 shots from the floor. After exchange baskets to open the period, Brown ignited a 20-0 South Alabama run over the next six minutes with another bucket. The USA scoring spurt was led by the trio of Brown, Jones and Woodard, who accounted for all but three of the 20 Jag points. Dominique Boykins ended the Jaguar scoring spurt with a lay up at the 13:17 mark to cut the Argo deficit to 51-26. West Florida got no closer the rest of the way and South Alabama went on to lead by as many as 31 on two occasions before taking the 28-point victory.
On the afternoon, South Alabama placed four players in double figures, led by Woodard’s game-high 17points. The Memphis, Tenn., native was seven-of-11 shooting from the floor. Jones, making her Jaguar debut, was just as hot, connecting on six of her nine opportunities, including 3-for-5 from behind the arc, to finish with 15. Amada Leonard and Brown also notched 11 and 10 points, respectively. West Florida was paced by Boykins, who recorded 12 points off the bench.
The key stat of the game was in the turnover department where the Jag defense created 14 steals and forced 31 Lady Argonaut turnovers compared to just 16 for South Alabama.
