TROY, Ala. ? Behind Whitney Woodard’s 18 second half points, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team picked up its second Sun Belt Conference victory of the season with a 69-56 victory over in-state rival Troy Thursday night at Trojan Arena. The victory marked the second straight game in which USA has trailed at halftime only to come back and pick up the win.
USA evens its overall record at 8-8 on the season and improves to 3-4 in conference-play with the win. Troy drops to 8-8 and 2-4 in the SBC with the loss. The Lady Jags will return home to take on UALR Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.
“We were very sluggish in the first half, even while we were leading,” said South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri. “Troy was also really outworking us for much of the half. At halftime, we talked about coming out with the right energy and desire and in the second half we fought as hard and executed as well as we could.”
South Alabama raced out to a quick 10-5 advantage during the first three minutes of the game, hitting four of its first five shots. The scoring spurt was sparked by a fast break lay up by Tiffany Sanders off the tip. The Lady Trojans battled back and over the next four minutes reeled off eight of the next 10 points. Troy’s Alyce Shearing tied the contest up at 13-13 with a turnaround hook shot with 12 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the opening half. Over the next four and a half minutes, both teams traded baskets back-and-forth until Whitney Woodard put USA up 21-18 with a bucket at the 7:29 mark.
Shearing, however, sparked the Troy offense again over the final seven minutes of the half. The freshman forward, scored four straight points and gave the Lady Trojans their first lead of the night (22-21) with a basket with just under six minutes to play in the first half. Kylie Morrissy later gave Troy its largest lead of the first stanza with a jumper with one minute, 47 seconds to go. The Jaguar women finally got back on the scoreboard again with a three-pointer by Raena Ellis from the right wing just before the intermission. The Ellis trey ended a Jag drought that saw USA eight straight shots from the floor.
Shearing and Morrissy led the Trojans with 10 and nine points, respectively, while South Alabama was paced in the first period of play by Jones (7) and Woodard (6).
In the second half with the host Trojans holding a 34-28 lead, Woodard led the Lady Jag charge as she scored six of USA’s next eight points and gave South Alabama the lead again at 36-35 with a three-pointer from the top of the key with 15 minutes, 40 seconds to go. The two clubs exchanged the lead over the few trips down the floor. Jones tied the contest up again at 40-40 with a jumper from the left baseline. The Jones jumper also ignited a 9-2 Jaguar run that allowed USA to stretch the lead out to 47-42. Valencia Boswell sank a pair of free throws at the 10:31 mark to give South Alabama the five point advantage. After a Valensia Hairston basket trimmed the Trojan deficit to three (47-44) with nine minutes, 33 seconds remaining, Woodard again had the answer for South Alabama, reeling off the Jags next five points to expand the lead out 52-44. The Trojans got no closer down the stretch as USA went on to lead by as many as 16 (65-49) before taking the 13 point victory.
USA was led by Woodard’s game-high 24 points, while Jones finished with 15 and Ellis with 11 to round out the Jags in double figures. The Lady Jag offense was the story in the second half as it shot 58 percent in the final period of play, a season-best.
The Lady Trojans were led offensively on the night by Shearing and Morrissy’s 14 points each. After recording a combined 19 points in the opening half, the Trojan duo was held to just nine points in the second stanza.
