BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Behind a balanced offensive attack, the University of South Alabama women's basketball team snapped its two-game skid and picked up a 72-62 over Florida Atlantic Thursday evening at FAU Arena.
“Any conference road win you are able to get is big,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “The fact that we were able to come in here and win this game and win it with so many of our players contributing positively is a good thing for us. Florida Atlantic, to their credit, never went away. We thought we pushed them away enough a few times in the second half, but every time we pushed them, they fought back. That’s a credit to (FAU), but it’s also a credit to our kids that we kept pushing them away and finished the game. We now take this one and put it in the bank and move forward to get ready for the next one, which will be a big one.”
South Alabama (11-3, 2-1 SBC) will now return home to take on SBC East Division rival Western Kentucky Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Mitchell Center. The Owls drop to 4-7 on the season and 0-2 in Sun Belt action with the loss.
Sophomore guard Shakira Nettles was one of five Lady Jags to finish the night in double figures with 17 points. Also finishing in double digits for South Alabama were Jeanette Tucker (14), Monique Jones (13), Amanda Leonard (11) and Patriece Brunner (10). The game marked the second time this season that South Alabama has placed five players in double digits in the same game, the last coming in the season opener against Spring Hill. FAU was paced by Carla Stubbs’ game-high 18 on the night. She was followed by Brittany Bowe and Breana Cox’s 14 points apiece.
USA held the edge on the glass in the win, out rebounding Florida Atlantic 47-39.
The Lady Jags got out to quick start in the opening minutes of the game, hitting their first five shots and opening up an early six-point advantage. During that time, the Owls aided the Jaguar cause, committing six turnovers. Jeanette Tucker put USA up 11-5 with just over 16 minutes left on the clock, but after the Tucker basket, South Alabama’s shooting cooled off as USA hit just two of its next 10 shots. Florida Atlantic took advantage of the Jaguar slump and cut the South Alabama advantage to 13-11 on a Brianna Cox bucket at the 11:42 mark. The Lady Jags, however, regained the momentum and eventually stretched its lead out to double figures. South Alabama grabbed a 28-18 advantage with two minutes, 45 seconds left in the first half off another FAU turnover. Jessica Starling grabbed an errant Owl pass and after driving down the court, found Shakira Nettles racing for a lay up. South Alabama looked as if it were going to head into the locker room still holding a double figure lead after a Patirece Brunner lay up, but off a baseline inbounds play, Carla Stubbs drained a trey from the left win at the buzzer to trim the Lady Jag lead to 30-23.
Jones (USA) and Stubbs (FAU) led their respective clubs offensively in the first 20 minutes of play, scoring eight points apiece. Brunner, Nettles and Tucker also had six points each in the first half for South Alabama. USA held a huge advantage in the paint area, outscoring the Owls 20-10 in the first frame.
As proved to be the case for much of the second half, Florida Atlantic came out of the intermission ready to battle back. The Lady Owls were able to cut the Jaguar advantage to two on a couple of occasions during the first five minutes of the period, the last coming at 35-33 on a Cox jumper at the 15:15 mark. Karina Sproal ended the Owls’ run South Alabama’s next possession with a trey of her own from the top of the key and increased the South Alabama advantage to five. USA later expanded its lead out to 10 (45-35) after one of Leonard’s three three-pointers in the second stanza and back-to-back Tucker buckets with 11 minutes, 49 seconds left on the clock. The regained momentum for South Alabama was short-lived though as over the next two minutes, FAU quickly got back in the game with nine unanswered points of its own, courtesy of two-straight baskets each from Cox and Stubbs.
After the Owls had pulled to within one after a Stubbs lay up, Leonard again came up with the huge bucket, knocking down another trey. Nettles followed the long distance shot from Leonard with a lay up off another FAU turnover. Florida Atlantic would not quit as Bowe made it a one possession game at 50-48 after a pair of off-balanced shots. With under four minutes left in regulation, South Alabama pushed the lead back out to eight (58-50) after consecutive three-pointers from the senior guard duo of Leonard and Jones and with time running out on the shot clock on the Lady Jags’ next trip down floor, Starling, a Tallahassee, Fla., native, drove the lane and laid the ball off the glass to put USA up by 10.
FAU had one more push, cutting the South Alabama lead to 62-56 at the 1:46 mark on another Bowe bucket, but that was as close as USA allowed the Lady Owls to get. South Alabama was able to knock down five of its eight shots at the charity stripe down the stretch and take the 72-62 victory.
