MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team used a 17-5 second half run Wednesday evening to pull away from Florida International and pick up a 66-52 Sun Belt Conference victory at the Mitchell Center. The victory marked the 150th of South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri’s coaching career at the collegiate level.
USA (17-8, 8-6 SBC) will continue Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday when the Lady Jags host Florida Atlantic at 1 p.m. The game will be part of the WBCA Pink Zone program for breast cancer awareness. Every fan who enters the game will be given a pink ribbon. The game will also be taped and shown Sunday at Noon on CSS.
Florida International falls to 6-18 on the season and 4-10 in league action with the loss.
Ra’Shawna Sippio led South Alabama with 14 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-11 shooting, while fellow Floridian Sarda Peterson chipped in with a career-high 13 points off the bench.
Michelle Gonzalez paced the Golden Panthers with 14 points and sophomore post player Elisa Carey added 13 points and a game-high 12 boards. The Lady Jag defense did an outstanding job on FIU’s leading scorer Monika Bosilj. Bosilj entered the game averaging 15.6 ppg ? sixth in the Sun Belt ? but was held to just four points on 1-of-10 shooting.
Holding a two-point advantage (32-30) four minutes into the second half, South Alabama used an 8-2 spurt over the next few minutes to push its lead back out to eight at 40-32 on a pair of Jessica Starling free throws.
Like in the opening half though, Florida International answered with a run of its own, this one a string of seven straight points ? and narrowed the gap to 40-39 on a Marquita Adley three-point play with just over 10 minutes to go. On USA’s next possession with the shot clock about to expire, Morriah Smith banked in a three-pointer from the top of the key to ignite the pivotal Jaguar run. Smith followed her three-pointer with a steal and fast break layup two possessions later. Peterson ? who recorded seven of her 13 points during that stretch ? then capped things off when the freshman drove the lane and spun around for a layup of her own with four minutes, 37 seconds left. Peterson’s basket gave South Alabama its largest lead to that point, 57-44.
The Golden Panthers used the charity stripe to their advantage over the next minute and cut the Lady Jag advantage back to single digits (57-48), but that was as close as USA allowed Florida International to get the rest of the way, holding on for the 14-point victory.
South Alabama feed the post in the early minutes and rode the hot shooting of Sippio to jump out to a quick 11-3 lead. Sippio, a Kissimmee, Fla., native, knocked down eight of USA’s first 11 points.
With USA holding the eight-point lead just three and a half minutes into the game, the Golden Panthers quickly pulled to within one with seven unanswered points. Jasmine Jenkins’ layup at the 13:53 mark capped off the scoring spurt and cut the deficit to 11-10. The Lady Jags stormed back with a run of their own, outscoring FIU 11-2 over the next seven minutes and grabbing their largest lead of the half on a Peterson three-pointer from the top of the key. Peterson’s trey with six minutes, 17 seconds left in the half was her second of the run and put USA up 22-12.
Peterson’s bucket though was the last field goal for the Jags in the period. The Golden Panthers took advantage of South Alabama’s offensive struggles and closed strong, ending the half on a 12-3 run. Gonzalez trimmed the Jaguar advantage just before the intermission when the sophomore point guard deflected a Lady Jag pass and raced down the court for a layup that cut the South Alabama advantage to 25-24.
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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