MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women's basketball team saw its six game winning streak come to an end Saturday night as the Lady Jags dropped an 80-46 decision to Middle Tennessee in Sun Belt Conference action at the Mitchell Center.
USA (10-2, 1-1 SBC) will now take off for the Christmas break before returning to action Dec. 30 when the Lady Jags welcome Southeastern Conference foe Kentucky. Tip off for the game versus the Wildcats is set for 4 p.m. With the win, Middle Tennessee improves to 6-5 on the season and 2-0 in the Sun Belt. The Blue Raiders also extended their Sun Belt Conference win streak to 26 games with the victory.
The Jags tied a season-high with 26 turnovers in the loss to MTSU, leading to 26 Blue Raider points. The full court Middle Tennessee defense proved to be the key in the Jaguar loss as Middle Tennessee also recorded 18 steals.
“I thought we started the game exceptionally well,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “Middle Tennessee basically runs three different presses. They will try one and if it doesn’t work, they will go to a second. They didn’t have to go to the third tonight, because we didn’t do a good job of navigating the three-quarter court trap. We haven’t trailed many times this season and tonight, I just didn’t think we fought back the way I hoped we would have and that was disappointing. This showed us that while I believe we are a good team, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Amber Holt led all scorers with 27 points, 17 coming in the second half in just 11 minutes of action. Joining Holt in double figures was Anne Marie Lanning (15) and Brandi Brown (12). USA was paced offensively by Shakira Nettles’ nine points.
South Alabama came out of the gates quick, dropping in two baskets within the first minute of play. USA also hit four of its first five shots from the floor. With USA holding an 8-4 lead with just under two minutes played in the game, Middle Tennessee turned up the defensive pressure forcing 10 Lady Jag turnovers over the next eight minutes to take the lead. Brown led a 14-2 run for MTSU with a pair of baskets over that stretch to put the Blue Raiders up 18-10 with nine minutes, 55 seconds left in the first half. South Alabama’s Amanda Leonard ended the MTSU run with a pair of free throws less than a minute later, but Lanning later drained the Blue Raider’s third trey of the half at the 7:50 mark to put Middle Tennessee up 25-12. USA was able to hang around the 10-point deficit mark until with just over three minutes left on the clock, Chelsia Lymon ignited a 10-0 Blue Raider run to end the half with a trey of her own. Holt sent Middle Tennessee into the locker room with a 20-point advantage (39-19) when the senior hit a jumper with under 30 seconds to play.
Middle Tennessee’s pressure caused South Alabama many problems during the first 20 minutes of play as the Lady Jags committed 15 turnovers, leading to 15 Blue Raider points. The Lady Jags entered the game averaging just 14 turnovers a game. South Alabama shot the ball well in the opening period of play, shooting 42.1 percent, but could not overcome the turnovers. Holt led all scorers in the first half with 12 points while Lanning had 10.
In the second half, Holt picked up right where she left off, scoring 13 of Middle Tennessee’s first 15 points during the first seven minutes of action. South Alabama tried to keep pace but the Lady Jags could not chip into the deficit, with MTSU eventually leading by as many as 36 before taking the 80-46 victory.
For the game, Middle Tennessee was a blistering 34-of-67 for 50.7 percent. The Blue Raiders were also 9-for-19 from behind the arc for 47.4 percent, compared to USA’s 1-of-10 performance on the night.
