MOBILE, Ala. ? The fifth-seeded South Alabama women’s basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 53-53 decision to fourth-seeded Arkansas State Saturday afternoon in the Quarterfinal Round of the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Tournament held at the Mitchell Center.
Arkansas State (20-11) will now advance to the semifinal round of the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Tournament to face Top-seeded Western Kentucky on Monday at 12:30 p.m. With the loss, South Alabama most likely ends the season with a 20-11 mark.
Monique Jones led all scorers with 19 points, tying a season-high with five three-pointers. Fellow senior Amanda Leonard also chipped in with 10 points, while Patriece Brunner also added a game-high 15 rebounds, her ninth double figure rebounding performance of the season. ASU was paced in the win by Sherina Scott’s 10 points.
South Alabama held the early momentum, but with the Lady Jags leading by one (7-6) after a Brunner bucket with just over 16 minutes left in the opening period of play, but ASU’s Jazmine Taylor drained a three-pointer to put the Lady Indians on top their next trip down the floor. With the Tribe still leading by three at 15-12 with 10 minutes to go before the intermission, Arkansas State grabbed its largest lead of the half 28-15 on a Lyndsay Schlup put back of a Caroline Starr miss to cap off a 13-3 ASU run at the 5:17 mark.
Still trailing by double digits with under four minutes remaining in the first stanza, Jones sparked the Jaguar offense and ignited USA when the senior guard drained her second trey of the half, this one coming from the left wing. Brunner later capped of the 8-0 run and narrowed the deficit to five (28-23) for South Alabama heading into the locker room with a put back of her own and two free throws in the final minute of play.
After struggling to find the range in the opening half from outside (2-of-10), South Alabama used the three-point shot during a 9-2 run to open the half and regain the lead at 34-30. Shakira Nettles ignited the Jaguar run with a trey from the left corner on USA’s first possession of the second half and Jones then put South Alabama back on top with one of her five three-pointers at the 18:05 mark. Leonard later capped off the scoring spurt with her second trey of the run a little over a minute later to give USA a 37-34 lead.
With the Lady Jags leading again by four (39-35) on a Jeanette Tucker bucket with 14 minutes left on the clock, ASU rattled off seven unanswered points and retook the lead at 42-39 setting the tone for the remainder of the contest. Neither team was able to pull away from the other down the stretch and Jones and Nettles looked as if they had given South Alabama the lead for good when Jones banked in a three from the left win as the shot clock expired and Nettles laid the ball off the glass to put USA back up by two at 49-47 and get the crowd into it. But again, the Lady Indians responded with a run of seven unanswered points to stretch its advantage back out to 53-49 with under a minute to go.
USA didn’t roll over and made it exciting down the stretch when it trimmed the deficit to one again on a Jones trey with 11 seconds left. Forced to foul, South Alabama send ASU to the line for a couple of one-and-one opportunities, which they missed. On the last one, Brunner snagged the rebound and threw the outlet pass to Jones. The Jag senior put up a three-pointer from several feet beyond the arc as the horn sounded, but it was not meant to be as the ball hit the iron and bounced off.
