MOBILE, Ala. ? Despite cold shooting, the South Alabama defense and Shakira Nettles led the Lady Jags to a 54-43 non-conference victory Saturday night at the Mitchell Center
USA (7-1) will travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., on Tuesday night to take on Southern Miss at 7 p.m. before returning home for four straight home games. Stetson falls to 1-6 on the season with the loss.
Nettles led all scorers with 15 points, while Monique Jones and Jeanette Tucker also chipped in with 10 points apiece. Karina Sproal paced the club on the glass with 15 rebounds off the bench. The Hatters were led offensively by Vlendy Roldan’s 11 points.
South Alabama broke an early 5-5 first half tie with the Hatters when with 15 minutes, 40 seconds left on the clock, Nettles started a 13-2 Jaguar run with one of her three buckets in the half. Patriece Brunner capped off the run and put the Lady Jags up by 11 (18-7) when the senior center hit a turnaround 12-foot baseline jumper with just under nine minutes left in the period. Brittany Carannante trimmed the Stetson deficit to 21-16 with a three-pointer two-feet behind the arc at the 4:33 mark, but USA did not allow the Hatters to draw any closer. Jones drained a trey of her own from the right wing just before the half to send South Alabama into the lockerroom with a 27-17 lead.
In the second half, Nettles gave USA its largest lead of the night at 37-25 when the sophomore guard nailed a three-pointer with just under 16 minutes to go. The Nettles trey would be the last field goal for the Jags over the next five minutes though and just one of three for South Alabama the rest of the way. Stetson used the offensive drought to its advantage and kept chipping away at the Jaguar lead down the stretch. Sharnesha Smith pulled the Hatters within five (42-37) with a 12-foot jumper at the 6:07 mark, but that was as close as Stetson was able to get. With Stetson stilling trailing by just six three minutes later, Nettles again came up, drilling her second three of the night, this one from the right corner with just over three minutes remaining. After struggling from the charity stripe for much of the evening, USA was able hit all but one of its foul shots down the stretch, hitting seven of its eight attempts in the final minute.
Despite shooting just 25 percent in the second half and 28.3 percent from the floor in the game, South Alabama held on to take the 54-43 win.
NOTES: The 7-1 start is the best start for the Lady Jags since the 2003-04 season, when they started the year with a 14-1 record. The game versus Stetson also marks fifth time this season that USA has not trailed in a game.
