MOBILE, Ala. ? Jessica Starling’s late basket and free throw Monday evening sealed a 68-64 victory over Ohio University for the Lady Jags at the Mitchell Center to give the South Alabama women’s basketball team its 11th victory of the season.
“Ohio University’s team fought to give themselves a chance to get back in the game and you have to give them credit for that,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “They attacked the offensive glass, and there was a 10-minute stretch where we did a miserable job rebounding the ball off the glass, and that really hurt us. That really allowed that cushion to disappear. The good news was we were able to make enough plays offensively, where we were able to at least keep them at some distance by the end of the game.”
USA (11-2, 2-0 SBC) will now step back into Sun Belt Conference play when it travels to Boca Raton, Fla., to take on Florida Atlantic on Jan. 1 at 11 a.m. Ohio drops to 4-7 on the year with the loss.
South Alabama was led offensively in the win by Shakira Nettles’ 20 points, while Jessica Starling chipped in with 16. Nettles also led the team on the glass with a season-high seven rebounds. Lauren Hmiel led the Bobcats with 20 points of her own. Jennifer Bushby (17) and Chandra Myers (11) also finished in double figures.
South Alabama came out of the intermission and opened the second half up taking eight of the first 10 points and took its first double-digit lead of the game after a pair of back-to-back baskets in the lane from Ra’Shawna Sippio. The Sippio buckets put the Lady Jags out in front 50-38 at the 16:24 mark.
Still holding an 11 point lead a minute later, the Jag offense went cold. Ohio took advantage of the South Alabama drought and trimmed the deficit to five (52-47) on a Myers’ put back. The Myers second chance bucket was one of many second chance opportunities for the Bobcats during the next five minutes. Nettles ended USA’s scoreless streak with a putback of her own at the 10:11 mark, but Hmiel connected on a trey from the corner on Ohio’s next possession.
Ohio would not go away though and kept battling. With five and a half minutes to go the Lady Bobcats outscored the Jags 10-5 over the next four minutes to pull within two. Bushby’s three-pointer from the top of the key narrowed the gap to 64-62. After a Jaguar miss on their next possession, the Bobcats had a chance to tie, but Hmiel’s jumper would not fall. With under a minute to play, OU pulled to within one at 65-64 after a pair of Bushby free throws with 38.3 seconds left in regulation.
After the Bushby free throws, Starling stepped up and sealed the win for the Lady Jags. With time winding down on the shot clock, the senior drove the right block for a layup. Starling was fouled on the play and sank the bonus shot to give USA a 68-64 lead, the final margin of victory. The Bobcats then turned the ball over on their final possession and Karina Sproal picked up the loose ball to give South Alabama the win.
Myers was the story early on for the Bobcats as the 6-4 post player recorded nine of Ohio’s first 13 points and give the Bobcats a four point lead. Riding the shooting of Myers, the visiting Bobcats got off to a quick start, connecting on six of their first eight shots. USA’s Brittney Rutledge kept the Lady Jags in it early on knocking down eight of the Jags first 13 points. Rutledge’s pair of free throws and baseline jumper at the 13:36 mark trimmed the deficit to two (15-13).
After the Bobcats had pushed their advantage back out to five on a Bushby three-pointer with just under 15 minutes left, South Alabama responded with a 10-2 run over the next five and a half minutes to take its first lead of the evening at 23-20. During the run, Siedah Banks grabbed a loose ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup to cut OU’s lead to 18-17. Karina Sproal and Nettles later capped off the run and gave USA the three point lead with when the duo drained back-to-back treys with eight minutes, 23 seconds left.
With the Lady Jags holding a four point lead at 28-24 at the 5:53 mark, Ohio was able to tie the contest back up at 28 with two quick buckets less than a minute later, the last coming on a Jenny Poff steal and layup. USA didn’t let the Bobcats ride the momentum long though and retook another four point lead after a pair of Starling and Nettles baskets. Ohio was only able to get as close as three the remainder of the half. With less than 10 seconds remaining, Starling drained a three-pointer from the right wing to send USA into the locker room with a 42-36 advantage.
The 42 points for the Lady Jags were the most scored in the first half since scoring 47 first half points against Mercer back on Nov. 24.
Both clubs were on fire in the opening 20 minutes of play, with USA hitting 16 of its 31 attempts from the floor for 51.6 percent and Ohio connecting on 14 of its 30 attempts for 46.7 percent. The Jaguar women were also 6-of-11 from beyond the arc.
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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