MOBILE, Ala. ? South Alabama’s Monique Jones’ career-high 26 points helped snap a four-game home skid Wednesday evening as the Lady Jag basketball team picked up a 76-65 Sun Belt Conference victory over Louisiana-Lafayette at the Mitchell Center.
“Monique shot ball exceptionally well tonight for us and those are the kinds of the performances that we hope for out of her,” Pietri said of Jones’ performance. “The nice thing about her is that she has really raised the level of her game on the defensive end, which has made her an all-around better player.”
USA (13-6, 4-4 SBC) will now host Denver Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Mitchell Center. With the loss, Louisiana-Lafayette falls to 5-13 and 1-6 in the Sun Belt with the loss.
“There’s no question that if you had told me before the game that we were going to win a game against Louisiana-Lafayette by 11, I would have taken it,” Pietri said about the win. “We are happy to get the win and happy to get ourselves back to .500 in the league.”
Jones led all scorers with a career-high 26 points for South Alabama on 11-of-17 shooting, marking the first 20-point performance by a Lady Jag this season. The Ferriday, La., native was also 4-of-8 from beyond the arc in the win. Jessica Starling (11) and Amanda Leonard (10) also recorded double figures for the Lady Jags. Louisiana-Lafayette was paced by Courtney Ratliff’s 21 points, while Alicia McDaniel (12) and Whitney Dunlap (11) also chipped in with double digit performances. McDaniel also finished the night with a double-double performance with a 14 rebound performance.
After struggling offensively out of the gate, the Lady Jags found their shooting touch midway through the first half. Louisiana-Lafayette held USA in check and kept it close early, leading by as many as three in the first half of the period, but with ULL holding a 15-13 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the half, Starling got things going with a three-pointer from the wing to put South Alabama back on top 16-15. Over the next five minutes, USA used the long distance shot to increase its lead to 31-22 at the 5:49 mark on a Karina Sproal trey. During that stretch, USA knocked down four shots from behind the arc. The Lady Jags kept things going over the remainder of the half and went up by as many as 21 at 45-24 on a Jones fast break layup from Siedah Banks with two minutes, one second left before the intermission. The Jones bucket capped off a 10-0 run for the Jags. USA headed into the locker room with a 48-31 halftime advantage.
The 48 points for South Alabama in the first half were the most by the Lady Jags in the opening stanza this season, eclipsing the previous mark of 44 set in the season opener against Spring Hill. For the half, South Alabama was a blistering 18-of-32 from the floor for 56.3 percent, also a season best in the first period of play. Jones led all scorers in the first 20 minutes of play with 13 first half points.
“We shot the ball well and executed well in the first half tonight,” Pietri said. “We got the right looks and made the right plays.”
USA was also on fire from behind the arc in the first half, knocking down nearly 60 percent of their attempts on 7-of-12 shooting.
In the second period after the Ragin’ Cajuns pulled to within 16 at 54-38 on a Courtney Ratliff bucket at the 16:20 mark, Jones again led the charge for South Alabama, scoring nine straight points over the next three minutes. The Jag senior capped off the run and put USA up 63-38 with a jumper with just over 13 minutes left on the clock.
Later in the half, Jones ignited another Jaguar scoring spurt with a pair of back-to-back buckets and Brittney Rutledge gave South Alabama its largest lead of the game (72-42) with a baseline jumper at the 9:31 mark. The Lady Jags however would only score four points the rest of the way.
“Credit ULL for not giving up,” Pietri added. “When they were down 30, they could have easily given up, but they kept fighting and we didn’t handle the lead very well. We began to get careless and make some goofy decisions which fed the run they made on us. A game that we thought was tucked away with nine minutes to go, was in doubt late.”
Playing with the huge lead, USA got sloppy with the ball down the stretch and the Cajuns took advantage, outscoring 11-2 over the next four minutes. ULL’s McDaniel’s layup with five minutes, 26 seconds left on the clock narrowed the Jaguar advantage to 21 (74-53). The Ragin’ Cajuns kept trying to chip away at the Jaguar lead and were able to get as close as 11 in the final minute of play after a Jasmine Barnes three-pointer, but the Jags held on for the victory.
