MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team dropped a 70-58 to Arkansas State Wednesday evening at the Mitchell Center.

South Alabama (15-8, 6-6 SBC) will now head to Troy to face the in-state rival Trojans at 3 p.m. on Sunday.  Arkansas State improves to 13-10 overall and 8-3 in Sun Belt play with the win. 

Veronica Smith led all scorers on the night with 23 points, while Ebonie Jefferson (15) and Lyndsay Schlup (11) also recorded double digit performances for ASU.  South Alabama’s Monique Jones was the lone Jag in double figures with 13 points. 

Arkansas State held two huge advantages in the rebounding department, holding a 52-36 edge overall and a 21-11 advantage on the offensive glass.

“The offensive rebounding category was the complete story of the game tonight,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We put ourselves in position to fight and win the game in the second half and then (Arkansas State) shot until they made it.  Going to the offensive glass is one thing that (Arkansas State) is really good at and it was a point of emphasis the last two days in practice, but we had no carry over in the game on the defensive glass.  In the second half, when we needed to finish positions with stops, we just didn’t do it.  From the time we took the lead in the second half, Arkansas State hit a different gear that was above ours in terms of aggressiveness and we paid for that by coming up on the short end.”

The Lady Jags opened up the game ice cold from the floor, missing their first seven shots and turned the ball over four times over the first six minutes of the game.  During that stretch, Arkansas State took advantage and opened up an 11-1 lead, the final four points of the spurt coming on consecutive Brittney Hiles buckets.  Karina Sproal’s running one-hander with 14 minutes left on the clock a seemed to jump start the Jags, as the junior forward recorded six of South Alabama’s next eight points over the next two and a half minutes to trim the Jaguar deficit to 13-9 on a Siedah Banks’ lay up at the 11:35 mark.

South Alabama kept battling over the next several minutes and cut the ASU advantage to one at 17-16 on another Banks lay up with just under nine minutes left in the first period of play.  The Lady Indians answered right back with six straight points and pushed the lead back out to 23-16 after a Schlup bucket with six minutes, 21 seconds left on the clock.  USA kept it around that margin for much of the remainder of the half, and cut the deficit to 34-30 at the intermission after Banks and Amanda Leonard each hit one of two free throws in the final minute and a half of the first stanza.

Arkansas State’s Smith led all scorers in the first period of play recording 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.  The key stat of the first half was on the glass where the Indians held a 25-17 advantage. 

Smith kept up her hot shooting for the Indians right out of the intermission, scoring ASU’s first eight points of the second half and giving Arkansas State a 42-33 lead after converting on and “old-fashioned” three-point play.  After Smith put the Indians up by nine, Patriece Brunner’s jumper at the 17:43 mark ignited an 11-0 Jaguar run over the next four minutes and Jessica Starling capped off the spurt and gave South Alabama its first lead of the night at 44-42 with a three-pointer from the left wing.  

The lead was short-lived for the Lady Jags though as ASU’s Schlup put the Indians back up on Arkansas State’s next trip down the floor when she muscled in an offensive rebound and hit the bonus foul shot.  Second chance points for the Lady Indians proved to be key in the second half, as ASU outscored South Alabama 16-0 in that category in the second period of play.  The Jags were able to get as close as one on a couple of occasions and with Arkansas State leading by three (57-54), Smith who had been quiet since the early part of the half, stretched the lead back out to 63-54 when the sophomore led a six point spurt with back-to-back buckets.  USA was able to get as close as five the rest of the way, but Arkansas State did not let the Jags get any closer and went on to take the 70-58 victory.