MONROE, La. ? Trailing by as many as 16 in the second half, the South Alabama women’s basketball team was able to get as close as one late, but could not draw any closer as Louisiana-Monroe held on for a 67-58  Sun Belt Conference victory Wednesday evening at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

“There are peaks and valleys in a season and we are definitely in a valley right now,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We have to find some mental toughness within ourselves to fight out of it.  We dug ourselves a deep hole in the game and did fight out of it, but we couldn’t make the plays we had to make to go ahead and finish it off once we got it to one possession.”

USA (11-5, 2-3 SBC) will now take a break before returning to action Jan. 14 when it host in-state rival Troy at 7:05 p.m.  With the win, Louisiana-Monroe improves to 10-5 overall and 3-1 in league action.

Jessica Starling led the way for South Alabama offensively with 18 points, while Shakira Nettles chipped in with 14.  ULM placed three players in double-digits led by Lottie Moore’s 21.  Ashley Wallis added a career-best 19 and Jesse Carrier finished with 11.

The Warhawks limited South Alabama to just 29 percent shooting for the game (20-for-69) and finished the game shooting 35.7 percent from the floor. 

As would prove for most of the half, South Alabama came out of the gates struggling from the field, connecting on just three of its first 13 shots.  With the game tied at seven with under 14 minutes left, ULM pushed its lead out to five (13-8) three minutes later on a pair of Sumar Leslie free throws.  Starling later pulled USA to within three, when the Jag senior sank two of her three shots at the charity stripe after being fouled with eight minutes, 36 seconds left in the opening period.  Those free throws though would be the last points for USA over the next four minutes as the Lady Jags suffered another shooting slump and the Warhawks took advantage.  ULM’s Moore, who led the Warhawks with 11 first half points, ignited a 13-2 run with a layup at the 7:10 mark.  South Alabama’s lone basket during the run came at the 4:23 mark on a Karina Sproal layup. 

Leslie capped off the Warhawk run and gave ULM its largest lead of the first half when the freshman drained a three-pointer from the left wing two minutes, 47 seconds before intermission.  Siedah Banks and Starling narrowed the deficit to nine with back-to-back baskets in the final minutes, but Louisiana-Monroe headed into the break with the 33-22 advantage.

For the half, USA shot just 24.2 percent from the floor (8-of-33), while ULM was 12 of 31 for 38.7 percent shooting.

 Like in the first half, South Alabama got off to a slow start and again the Warhawks used it to their advantage.  Wallis led the charge for Louisiana-Monroe to open the half, recording seven of ULM’s eight points.  Wallis’ layup and free throw with 16 minutes, 46 seconds left increased the Jag deficit to 16 (41-25). 

After being held scoreless during the first 20 minutes of play and without a field goal against Middle Tennessee on Sunday, Nettles started to heat up in the second half, connecting on three treys within the first six minutes of the second stanza.  Nettles’ back-to-back three-pointers with less than 14 minutes on the clock narrowed the gap to 41-31.

With ULM holding a 46-33 lead after a Moore jumper, South Alabama began to mount its charge.   Tashley Gaines’ at the 9:26 mark ignited a 15-5 run over the next five minutes for the Jags.  Starling recorded seven of USA’s points during the spurt.  After a Cylenthia Kennon steal, Nettles pulled USA to within three (51-48) with just under five minutes remaining and then on South Alabama’s next possession, Starling closed the deficit to 51-50 with a layup.

That was as close as the Lady Jags would get the rest of the way as ULM outscored South Alabama 16-8 down the stretch, a majority of it coming from the line with USA forced to foul. 

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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