MOBILE, Ala. ? A 12-0 run to open the second half by the Florida proved to be the difference as South Alabama dropped a 62-50 decision to the Gators Friday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Lady Jags fall to 3-4 on the season with the loss, while Florida improves to 4-4 with the victory.  USA will return to action Dec. 5, when the Jaguar women host Southern Illinois at the Mitchell Center at 7 p.m.

“We had open jump-shot looks tonight, but we just were not able to put those down,” said South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri.  “Florida used a scrambling, trapping zone defense, and because of that, we probably settled for too many shots on the perimeter instead of trying to push it into the middle towards the basket.  We had a lot of second opportunities, but we just didn’t finish those either.  We defended well enough to stay within range, but we weren’t able to put some points on the board to make up the difference.  The first five minutes of the second half was the difference for us tonight.”

After a basket from Florida’s Depree Bowden with just over a minute played, South Alabama reeled off seven straight points to take a five point lead.  Monique Jones capped of the Jaguar spurt with a three-pointer from the left wing with 17 minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the opening half.  After the Gators narrowed the gap to three two minutes later, Jones again pushed the South Alabama advantage out to 14-8 with her second trey of the evening.  UF answered right back though and tied the contest up at 14-14 on a Brittaney Thomas bucket at the 9:44 mark.  The two clubs exchanged the lead back-and-forth for the remainder of the first half, until with the Jags holding a 29-26 lead with just over a minute to play, Florida pushed across the final five points to take a 31-29 lead into the intermission.

The key stat of the half was on the glass, where Florida out rebounded the Jags 28-19 in the first stanza.

Neither team was able to do anything offensively for the first two minutes of the second half.  After not recording a three-pointer during the first 20 minutes of play, sophomore guard Sha Brooks knocked down back-to-back shots from long range to ignite the 12-0 Gator run that gave UF a 43-29 lead, its largest of the night at the 15:31 mark.  The Florida run was aided by a five minute Jaguar offensive drought that saw USA miss its first five attempts from the field and turn the ball over six times.  With 10:36 remaining on the clock, Amanda Leonard drained a three-pointer from the right wing to narrow the margin to 45-38.  South Alabama trimmed the deficit to as little as seven on three occasions the rest of the way, with the last coming with just under six minutes remaining on a Valencia Boswell turnaround jumper in the lane, but the was as close as USA got.  The Gators went on to take the 62-50 victory.

Florida was led on the night by Brooks’ game-high 17 points, 14 of which came in the second stanza.  Marshae Dotson and Bowden also chipped in with 10 points apiece.  Bowden added 15 boards for the Gators.  USA was paced by Jones’ 10 points on the night.  The Ferriday, La., native was the only Lady Jag to eclipse the double figure mark on the night.

The telling stat of the evening for the Jaguars was from long distance, where USA shot a season-low 14 percent.  South Alabama was just 4-of-28 from behind the arc, including a miserable 1-of-15 in the second half.  The Gators were not much better from three-point range, finishing just 3-of-16 for 19 percent.