MOBILE, Ala. ? The South Alabama women’s basketball team placed five players in double figures and cruised to a 98-35 win over Spring Hill in its season opener Friday night at the Mitchell Center.
“One of our goals this year is to push the ball more and we did a very good job of that tonight,” South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri said. “I thought we were solid defensively, but there are still things that we need to work on to be complete. I liked our effort and I thought we held ourselves well and didn’t get careless. Spring Hill is a team that is going to get better as they get more acquainted with their new coach.”
Junior college transfer Ra’Shawna Sippio led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs. Also scoring in double digits for the Jags were Shakira Nettles and Monique Jones with 14 points each, followed by 12 points from Amanda Leonard and 10 points from Brittney Rutledge. This marks the first time USA has had five players score in double figures in the same game since March 4, 2000 when the Jags had five players do so against UALR. Jones also added a career-high six assists on the night for South Alabama. All 12 Jags that played scored at least two points.
For the game, USA was a blistering 53.9 percent (41-of-76) from the floor, while the Jag defense held the Badgers to just 16.3 percent (8-of-49) shooting. South Alabama also forced 25 Spring Hill turnovers in the win, 14 coming off steals. Nettles led the way in that department with four.
The 98 points were the most ever in a season opener for USA and a new Mitchell Center record. The 63 point margin of victory was also the second largest in the program’s history, just missing the mark set on Jan. 24, 1987 when the Jags defeated South Florida 104-49.
Spring Hill was paced by Rashonda Belton’s nine points.
South Alabama came right out of the gate and took control, opening the game up with an 11-0 run over the first five and a half minutes. Patriece Brunner got things started with a couple of back-to-back buckets and then Nettles capped off the run with a lay up at the 14:29 mark. After a Keisha Forbes free throw, Spring Hill finally recorded its first field goal of the game on a Belton lay up with 13 minutes, 14 seconds left on the clock in the first period of play. Prior to the Belton bucket, the Badgers had missed their first five attempts from the floor and turned the ball over three times during the eight minute stretch. USA continued its torrid pace and eventually went up by 20 at 23-3 after a Nettles trey with just under 12 minutes left on the clock. The Lady Jags did not let up on Spring Hill the rest of the way and headed into the lockerroom with a commanding 44-18 lead.
Jones and Nettles led USA in the first stanza with 10 and nine points, respectively in the first period of play. As a team, South Alabama was 19-of-42 in the first half for 45.2 percent, while Spring Hill managed just four field goals and shot 19 percent from the floor, including a 1-of-9 mark from long range.
The Jaguar women kept their hot shooting up in the second half and quickly expanded the lead out to 33 (59-26) after a Jeanette Tucker tip-in with just over 15 minutes left in regulation. As it did in the first half, Spring Hill could not find its shooting touch in the second as the Badgers were only able to hit four more field goals in the second frame. USA cruised the rest of the way and went on to take the 63-point win. In the second half, USA was on fire again, knocking down 64.7 percent of its attempts (22-of-34).
