MOBILE, Ala. ? Behind Shakira Nettles' 21 points, the South Alabama women’s basketball team cruised to an 83-48 victory over Houston Baptists Tuesday evening at the Mitchell Center.

USA (6-1) will begin a three-game road swing Saturday when the Lady Jags travel to take on Southern at 2 p.m.  The Huskies fall to 2-5 on the year with the loss.

Nettles was just one point shy of tying her career-high on the night and led all scorers with her 21 points.  The Jag junior was 8-of-12 from the floor and drained a career-best five three-pointers.  Vontrice Dennis came off the bench to also finish in double figures and all 12 players that played scored at least two points.  Cindee Wright paced Houston Baptist with 14 points, while Megan Morris chipped in 11.

For the game, South Alabama was 11-for-25 from beyond the arc for 44 percent and out rebounded the Huskies 52-32.    Jessica Starling had a career-night on the glass for USA, pulling down a career-high 10 boards.  The Jaguar bench also recorded one of its best performances of the season, recording 45 of USA’s points in the win. 

Both teams came out cold from the floor in the opening minutes of play, with the Lady Jags connecting on just one of their first seven attempts from the floor.   Nettles’ back-to-back treys ended at the under 16 mark got things going for the Lady Jags and ignited a 20-6 run for USA over the next five minutes.  South Alabama used the three-pointer to do most of its damage over the scoring run, draining six from beyond the arc.  Nettles was the leader during the Jag run, draining four of South Alabama’s three-pointers, the last putting the Jags up 22-10 at the 10:42 mark.  Morris ended the Huskies’ drought with a pair of jumpers and Wright’s free throws with just under nine minutes to play trimmed the Jaguar advantage to six at 22-16. 

South Alabama continued to ride the three-point shot and stretched its lead back out to 33-20 on a Brittany Rutledge trey at the 5:55 mark from the right wing.  The trey was Rutledge’s second of the half.    Following the Rutledge three-pointer, the Lady Jags turned up the defense, holding Houston Baptist without a field goal the final 6:44 of the first half without a field goal.  The lone two points for the Huskies during that stretch came from the charity stripe.  USA took advantage and extended its lead out to 16 (38-22), the last points coming when Tashley Gaines found Dennis wide open under the goal for a layup with less than a minute to go. 

The Lady Jags did most of their damage in the opening 20 minutes of play from beyond the arc.  Of USA’s 13 field goals in the first period of play, nine came from long range.  For the half, South Alabama was 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) from the field and a blistering 9-for-17 from three-point range for 52.9 percent shooting. 

After the Huskies knocked down two quick buckets to start the second half, the Lady Jags put things away with another run, this one a 19-5 run.  Nettles again led the way for South Alabama scoring nine of the 18 South Alabama points, including a string of four-straight baskets for USA from the18 minute mark to the 14:43 mark of the half.  Gaines’s two free throws with just over 12 minutes remaining capped off the Jaguar run and put USA up 57-31. 

Houston Baptist had no answer as the Lady Jags went on to pick up the 35-point win.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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