MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team secured the eighth seed in next week’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament Saturday night with a 56-44 victory over in-state rival Troy at the Mitchell Center. USA was led on “Senior Night” by a pair of seniors. Whitney Woodard recorded her 18th double-double of her career with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Valencia Boswell added 11 points.
“Tonight our team really stepped up defensively,” said South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri. “This was a complete defensive effort and we finished plays on the offensive end tonight, which was critical. I felt Whitney really stepped up and responded well for us. We are certainly happy that we will be playing at home in the first round of the conference tournament.”
With the win, South Alabama (13-15, 7-11 SBC) will now host North Texas on Wednesday (Feb. 28) at 7 p.m. in the first round playoff game of the SBC Tournament. The Lady Trojans fall to 12-16 overall and 5-13 in league action and will be the No. 10 seed in the conference tourney.
The contest was a back-and-forth affair for much of the first half with the two teams sharing the lead six times and having the game tied on four occasions during the first 11 minutes of play. With the game tied at 15 with eight minutes, 28 seconds left in the first period of play, USA reeled off an 8-0 run over the next four minutes and took a 23-15 lead on a Woodard offensive put back. South Alabama went on to lead by as many as nine points after a Boswell free throw at the 2:33 mark, but the Trojans ended the half with five unanswered points of their own to trim the deficit to 27-23 on an Amy Lewis just before the clock expired.
Woodard led all scorers in the opening stanza with 12 points.
Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Trojans kept battling and with just under six minutes played in the second stanza, Valencia Hairston gave Troy its first lead of the game since the 11 minute mark of the first half, when Laurelle Roper found the senior forward for a lay up under the basket. Over the next five minutes, the two clubs again exchanged the lead back-and-forth until with the contest knotted at 37-37, Shakira Nettles drained a trey to ignite a 10-0 Jaguar run. Woodard later capped off the South Alabama scoring with another lay up with five minutes, 44 seconds left on the clock to give USA a 47-37 lead. Lewis answered the Jag run with third three-pointer of the night on Troy’s next trip down court, but that was as close as the Trojans got the rest of the way, as USA went on to lead by as many as 14 points late, before taking the 56-44 win.
Woodard and Boswell were the only Jags in double figures on the night, but fellow senior Cortney Brown did chip in with seven points. Woodard not only contributed on the offensive end in the victory, but also recorded a career-high five steals and one blocked shot.
Troy was paced by Lewis and Hairston, who each chipped in with 13 points each.
