MIAMI ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team captured a key Sun Belt Conference victory Sunday afternoon with a 56-46 victory over Florida International at Pharmed Arena.

“We came out with the right energy level this afternoon and were able to finish the job,” said South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri.  “In our last two games, we had played well enough to win, but were unable to finish.  This afternoon we were able to do that against a quality team on the road in FIU.” 

The win snaps a three-game skid for USA and improves South Alabama to 12-14 overall and 6-10 in conference play.  With the loss, FIU falls to 15-11 and 9-7 in the SBC.  The Lady Jags will remain in the “Sunshine State” to take on Florida Atlantic on Feb. 22.

South Alabama came out on fire over the first seven minutes of the game, jumping out to a 20-1 lead.  Monique Jones gave the Jags the 19-point advantage when she drained her second trey of the half from the right wing at the 13:12 mark.  During the run, USA knocked down eight of its first 13 shots, while holding Florida International with out a field goal.  The Lady Jag defense also forced FIU into six turnovers during the first seven minutes of action. 

Amanda Leonard gave USA its largest lead of the half at 30-10, when the junior guard hit South Alabama’s fourth straight three-pointer of the period with just under eight minutes left in the opening half. 

The Jaguar women cooled off a bit offensively the rest of the half and after a pair of free throws from Eva Makela, the Golden Panthers trimmed the USA advantage to 32-19 with two minutes left before halftime.  Neither team was able to do much else in the final minutes of the half and South Alabama headed into the intermission with a 33-19 lead.

For the first period of play, South Alabama was 13-of-30 from the floor for 43.3 percent.  FIU on the other hand, hit just six of its 27 attempts from the floor (22.2 percent), including just 1-of-10 from behind the arc.  The field goal percentage and the 19 first half points were both season low’s for Florida International.  Jones and Whitney Woodard led the way in the first stanza for USA, each recording eight points.

 With South Alabama still holding a 41-26 lead just over five minutes into the second half, the Golden Panthers reeled off six unanswered to trim the Jaguar lead to 10 (42-32) with 14 minutes, 28 seconds left in the game.  USA true freshman Shakira Nettles later put the Jaguar women back up 48-34, when the Mobile native grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the basket at the 9:31 mark.  The game remained at that margin for the next several minutes, until the Florida International tried to mount one last charge.  Lasma Jekabsone hit one of two free throws to cap off a 9-0 run and cut the Jag lead to nine (54-45) with two minutes, 36 seconds left, but Jones knocked down a 10-foot jumper on the Lady Jags’ next trip down the floor as the shot clock was winding down to end any hopes of a rally for FIU.

Jones and Woodard led USA offensively on the day with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while LaQueta Fergueson had a game-high 16 for Florida International. 

The key stat of the day was FIU’s inability to knock down the three-point shot.  For the game, the Golden Panthers were just 2-of-18 from long range.  FIU also hit just 14 of its 24 attempts from the charity stripe.

After recording 24 points against USA in Mobile, FIU point guard Iva Ciglar was held to just four points on the afternoon.