MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team used a balanced offensive attack Sunday afternoon to pick up a 72-57 victory over North Texas at the Mitchell Center and snap a three game Sun Belt Conference losing streak. The Lady Jags placed four players in double figures for the first time this season in the win.
“We had our lull to begin the second half tonight, which was like Wednesday night against Louisiana-Monroe, but we did respond,” said South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri. “We didn’t keep the lull going and we were able to fight out of it, which I was pleased about. We had contributions from so many kids tonight, particularly off our bench. With Valencia Boswell aggravating a groin injury, Jeanette Tucker really stepped up for us. Not taking away anything from out starters, but Amanda Leonard and Shakira Nettles both played exceptionally well off the bench for us.”
South Alabama improves to 10-11 overall and 4-7 in the conference with the victory, while North Texas falls to 5-14 on the year and 2-7 in the SBC. The Lady Jags will next head to New Orleans to begin a two-game road trip Wednesday night when they take on the Privateers at 7 p.m.
After Tricia Lee hit a three-pointer to give North Texas the early lead just over a minute into the game, South Alabama erupted for 15 unanswered points over the next five minutes to grab a 12 point lead. Whitney Woodard led the Jaguar run with 11 of USA’s 15 points over that stretch. The Memphis, Tenn., native capped off the USA spurt when she stole the ball and drove the length of the floor for a layup at the 13:17 mark. UNT responded right back and after starting out the game one for its first nine from the floor, found its shooting touch. Erica Howard ended the Mean Green scoring drought with a turnaround jumper in the lane. The Howard basket also ignited a 15-4 run over the next six-and-a-half minutes for North Texas. Senetra Jackson cut the Jag lead to 19-18 with just over six minutes remaining in the opening half when she drained her third trey of the period.
USA’s Shaniece Brunner started another scoring spurt for South Alabama the next trip down the floor. Woodard gave the Lady Jags their largest lead of the first half at 33-22 when she knocked down another jumper and converted the bonus free throw after being fouled with two minutes, 21 seconds left. The Mean Green scored the final five points of the half and Amber Jackson narrowed the margin to 33-25 when she hit an eight-foot jumper right before the horn sounded.
Woodard led all scorers in the first stanza with 14 points, on 6-of-9 shooting.
The two clubs exchanged baskets to open the second half and still trailing by seven, North Texas began to claw its way back. Talicia Sanders trimmed the Jag advantage to three (35-32) with bucket at the 17:46 mark. With USA still leading by three after another Howard basket with just under 16 minutes left in regulation, Woodard and Monique Jones combined for South Alabama’s next seven points to expand the Jag lead back out to double digits. Jones drained a three-pointer from the left corner at the 14:42 mark to put the Lady Jags up 44-34. Over the next seven minutes, North Texas kept fighting and with seven minutes, 29 seconds left to go, Tricia Lee narrowed the gap to two again at 54-52 with a driving layup.
The Jaguar defense however stiffened and forced the Mean Green offense into missing its next seven shots and turning the ball over three times. Over that same stretch, USA reeled off an 11-0 run. Amanda Leonard 65-52 with a running one-hander along the baseline with just over three minutes left on the clock. UNT made one final charge when Brittney James knocked down two straight buckets to end six minute offensive drought for North Texas and cut the Jag lead to eight (65-57) with one minute, 26 seconds left. But South Alabama hit its free throws down the stretch and went on to take the 72-57 victory.
Woodard led all scorers with 21 point. Jones was close behind her with 16 points of her own, and Jeanette Tucker and Leonard chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively. The career-high 12 points scored by Tucker equaled the total amount of points the Jag junior had recorded in the previous 13 game that she had played. The 72 points scored by South Alabama also marked the most scored by USA in a Sun Belt game this season. True freshman Shakira Nettles also grabbed a career-high six steals for the Jaguar women.
South Alabama also added season-high 18 assists on their 25 made field goals and all 12 Lady Jags that played recorded at least one in the game.
Jackson paced North Texas with 14 points, while Sanetra Jackson added 11 off the bench.
