MOBILE, Ala. ? Behind Jeanette Tucker’s career-high 17 points, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2007 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tournament with a 52-44 victory over ninth-seeded North Texas at the Mitchell Center Wednesday night.
“For those who saw this game, there is no question that it was an ugly game,” said South Alabama women’s basketball head coach Rick Pietri. “I do believe that our energy level was in the right place and I thought we executed well offensively. We got the looks that we wanted, and we just couldn’t get any thing to go in. Our defensive effort was outstanding and I think most of (North Texas’) looks were challenged. I think our defense had something to do with their shooting percentage. Fortunately when they got close in the second half, we were able to hit some big shots when we really needed it.”
USA, the eighth-seed, will now take on the tournament’s top seed and 17th ranked Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at the Cajundome. With the win, the Lady Jags improve to 14-15 on the season, while the Mean Green ends the season at 9-20.
Both teams came out struggling offensively from the floor during the first 12 minutes of the game. With the South Alabama holding a 10-9 advantage with under eight minutes to play in the opening half, Tucker sparked the Jag offense, scoring USA’s next seven points, including a three-pointer. However, with four minutes left before halftime, North Texas fought back and reeled off six unanswered points of its own to trim the lead to 17-15. The Mean Green’s Brittney James capped off the UNT scoring spurt with a pair of free throws at the 2:55 mark. The Lady Jags came right back though and closed the half with a 8-1 run over the final two minutes to head into the locker room with a 25-16 lead. Tucker again had the answer for the Jags as the junior point guard hit a pull up jumper in the lane just before the buzzer.
The offensive woes for both clubs carried over to the second half, as neither team could find the basket, combining for 2-of-28 shooting from the field over the first nine minutes. With USA holding a 30-19 lead, North Texas began to find its shooting touch. Amanda Quattrocchi drained a trey from the left wing at the 12 minutes mark to ignite a 9-0 Mean Green run over the next three minutes and Talicia Sanders brought UNT to with in two at 30-28, when the junior forward knocked down an eight-foot jumper from the right baseline at the 9:28 mark.
On the Lady Jags next trip down the floor, Woodard, who was held in check offensively for much of the night, drove the lane and laid the ball off the glass to end the North Texas run. Shakira Nettles followed the Woodard bucket with a three-pointer of her own seconds later to push the Jag lead back out to 35-28. With USA still leading by five later in the half, Nettles again ignited a Jag scoring spurt with another bucket. South Alabama junior guard Amanda Leonard aided the Jag run with a huge three-pointer from the left corner and Tucker put the Lady Jags back up 12 (42-30) at the 4:10 mark.
North Texas kept fighting though and got as close as 47-41 with just over a minute to go in regulation, but South Alabama held on for the eight point victory.
Tucker led all scorers on the night with her career-high 17 and Woodard was just two points shy of her 10th double-double of the season with eight points and 13 rebounds. North Texas was paced by James’ 12 points and Sanetra Jackson’s 10. Sanders also had a game-high 16 rebounds on the night for the Mean Green.
Both teams struggled from the field on the night with neither shooting above 25 percent. The key stat of the game was in the bench production department, where South Alabama outscored North Texas 37-16.
