MOBILE, Ala. - Chassity Brown's jumper with 4.7 seconds left in regulation proved to be the difference as the University of South Alabama women's basketball team dropped a heart-breaking 73-71 decision to Tulane Tuesday evening at the Mitchell Center.
Brown's jumper came just seconds after South Alabama's Shakira Nettles had tied the contest back up at 71 with a three-pointer from the top of the key. The Nettle's trey was one of her three on the evening, as she finished the night with 17 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
South Alabama (2-4) - which had protected the ball well for most of the game -recorded five of their 15 turnovers during the final five minutes. Three of those turnovers proved costly and came during a 40-second stretch in which Tulane erased a three-point deficit and reeled off six straight points.
"I'm upset with the fact that we had veteran players who are used to being successful just lose their minds for about a 30-second stretch of time," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "That stretch of time really reversed things, because I felt like at that point we had the game in our hands. It's so gut-wrenching when veteran players who have been here two and three years make those types of errors to put us in that position. This is the most painful loss I've had in a long time, when you consider the circumstances."
USA was led offensively on the night by Christian Shelter's career-high 21 points. The Jag forward also had a solid night shooting the ball, connecting on nine of her 17 attempts.
Tashley Gaines returned to the lineup and came off the bench to provide a spark. In 20 minutes of action, the West Memphis, Ark., native recorded a career-best 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
South Alabama will now head to Thibodeaux, La., to take on Nicholls State on Saturday with tip-off set for 2 p.m.
The Green Wave (3-2) did most of their damage on the night in the post area, out-scoring USA 52-30 in the paint. Brittany Lindsay (21) and Brett Benzio (18) combined for 39 of those points and were a collective 17-of-21 from the field. Brown also had a strong performance for Tulane, recording 19 points - 14 coming in the second half, including the game-winner.
Shooting mainly from the interior, Tulane was 30-for-51 from the field for 58.8 percent shooting as a team and just missed tying a Mitchell Center record for an opponent. Florida International posted a 58.9 field goal percentage back on Jan. 4, 2001.
Nettles and Shelter provided the offense for the Jags early on, combining for the first 16 points for USA. Nettles gave South Alabama a 16-13 lead when she drained a three-pointer from the right corner with 12 minutes, 37 second left on the clock. Tulane answered the Nettles' basket by feeding the post each of its next four possessions and took its first lead of the game at 19-16 after layups from Benzio and Danielle Nunn with under 12 minutes to go.
With the Green Wave holding a 25-24 advantage with just under seven minutes to play in the opening half, Tulane ran off seven unanswered points over the next three minutes to take its largest lead to that point at 32-24. Lindsay gave the Green Wave the eight-point advantage when the redshirt junior hit a jumper and the bonus shot at the 4:58 mark.
Following a Nettles bucket at the 3:36 mark, Gaines entered the game and provided the spark that the Jags had been missing. Less than a minute into the game, she recorded a layup to close the gap to 34-30 and then knocked down a baseline jumper with one minute, 44 seconds remaining in the first half to pull USA to within two. With just over a minute to play, Shelter drained a jumper of her own to tie things up at 34-34 with just over a minute to play.
Tulane's Brown then came down on the Green Wave's next trip down the floor and hit a three-pointer to make it 37-34. Gaines again provided the answer for the Jaguars, as she recorded the last four points of the period. After her three-point play with less than 30 seconds to go, Shelter pulled down a Tulane miss and fed the ball to Gaines, who drove the floor and was fouled with 0.3 seconds. Gaines was able to hit one of her two attempts at the charity stripe to send South Alabama into the locker room with a 38-37 lead.
Coming out of half time, Tulane quickly took the momentum back, opening the second period of play with a 9-0 run during the first three minutes. During the run, the Green Wave went inside again, as seven of the nine points came from within the paint. Benzio knocked down a pair of back-to-back buckets at the 14:49 mark to put TU back out in front by nine (52-43).
Like in the first half though, USA made another charge, this one a 12-0 run over the next four-and-a-half minutes. Gaines provided the spark again for South Alabama hitting a three-pointer from the right corner. Two minutes later after Sarda Peterson rattled home a trey, Cylenthia Kennon knocked down a 10-foot baseline jumper to give the Jags a 53-52 advantage with under 12 to go.
Two possessions later, Gaines capped off the scoring spurt for South Alabama with another jumper.
Tulane battled back and retook the lead at 59-58 after another layup from Lindsay, this one at the 6:36 mark. The two clubs kept things close over the next several minutes, until USA looked to be in control with the 64-61 with four minutes, 12 second left on the clock after layup from Peterson.
However, the Green Wave defense then forced the three-straight Jag turnovers to retake the momentum and lead and set up the dramatic finish.
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).
NOTES: South Alabama's Christian Shelter (21) and Tashley Gaines (13) each recorded new career-highs in the loss. Gaines returned to the Jaguar lineup after serving a two-game suspension for a violation of team rules. Tulane's 58.8 percent field goal percentage was the highest by an opponent in the Mitchell Center since Florida International's 58.9 back on Jan. 4, 2001.
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