MOBILE, Ala. - Led by KeKe Carrier's 23 points, Auburn's interior play proved to be too much for the University of South Alabama women's basketball team as the Jags fell 71-50 to the Tigers Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.
Auburn (8-3) held a huge advantage outscoring South Alabama 42-8 in the paint and was 28-of-56 from the field in the win. The Tigers were dominant on the glass, outrebounding USA 48-26. Chantell Hillard led AU on the glass, pulling down a career-high 11 boards.
"They just beat us in every way," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "(Keke) Carrier is an enormous human being, and it's very difficult to manage when someone is almost a foot taller than anyone on your team. We put crowds around her at times, but they just threw it over the top of us and there was absolutely nothing we could do. We didn't shoot it poorly from the arc, but the problem was we couldn't get close. When we got close and had finishing opportunities, we didn't finish. But Auburn is awfully good, and they deserve a lot of credit. Across the board, they just took it to us and they deserve the credit for that."
The Jaguar women (5-6) will now break for the holidays, before returning to the court Dec. 28 when they travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Lipscomb at 7:05 p.m.
Senior guard Shakira Nettles led USA in scoring with 15 points and did all her damage from behind the arc, knocking down five-three pointers. With her five treys, Nettles moved into fourth place on the Jags' all-time chart and now sits just seven points shy of becoming the 18th player to join the 1,000 point club at USA.
Along with Carrier's game-high 23 points, Alli Smalley (13) and Morgan Toles (10) also carded double-digits for the Tigers.
Both teams used runs early on in the first half to grab an early lead. After trailing by three early on, South Alabama reeled off seven unanswered points and took a 10-6 lead at the 12:41 mark on a Nettles' three-pointer from the left wing. The Tigers answered with a run of their own, outscoring the Jags 11-0 over the next four minutes. Jordan Greenleaf capped off the scoring and put Auburn out in front 17-10 with back-to-back baskets with just under nine minutes to go in the period. The Tiger run was aided by a four-and-a-half minute offensive drought by the Jags.
Christian Shelter's jumper from the elbow with seven minutes to go pulled USA to within three (17-14), but the Tigers again used another scoring spurt, recording 14 of the next 17 points to take a 14-point lead. Parrisha Simmons' offensive put back at the 3:19 mark capped off the run and gave Auburn the 31-17 advantage. The Tigers led by as many as 16 in the first stanza before taking a 36-23 lead into the break.
Auburn came out on fire in the opening 20 minutes of play, connecting on 16 of its 29 attempts from the field for 55.2 percent. As they did for most of the game, USA found it difficult to get anything inside and shot just 30 percent in the first half. Of South Alabama's 18 made field goals in the game, only eight were from inside the arc.
Coming out of the locker room, Shelter and Nettles quickly narrowed the deficit to 40-33 less than three minutes into the final period of play. Shelter recorded the Jags' first seven points of the period and Nettles then drained her fifth trey of the afternoon to cut Auburn's lead to seven at the 16:41 mark.
Like in the first half, the Tigers had the answer and quickly regained the momentum with a 8-0 run over the next two minutes to stretch their lead back out to 15 (48-33). From that point on, South Alabama never could get the deficit under double-digits as Auburn continued to do its damage in the paint.
During the last nine minutes of the game, USA was only able to connect on just three of its final 13 shots from the floor.
The Tigers put the game away during a four minute stretch late in the game. With under eight minutes to go, a Carrier layup at the7:55 mark ignited a string of 12-straight points from the 6-7 post player. Carrier recorded 16 of her 23 points during the second half and was 6-for-8 from the floor after the intermission.
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: With her five three-pointers, USA's Shakira Nettles moved into fourth-place on program's all-time list. With her 15 points, Nettles is now just seven points away from becoming the 18th Jag to join the 1,000 point club. The victory for Auburn the 23rd-straight in the series and the Tigers improve their lead in the series to 37-2. The 50 point output is the fewest for the Jags since scoring 50 versus Memphis on Dec. 9.
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