DENVER - The University of South Alabama women's basketball team battled back from a first half deficit, eventually leading by as many as seven in the second stanza, but the Jags could not hold on, as Denver rallied back for a 71-68 victory Saturday afternoon at Magness Arena.
USA drops its second-straight game and falls to 12-8 overall and 7-2 in the Sun Belt with the loss. The Jags will now return home to host Florida Atlantic on Wednesday with tip-off set for 7:05 p.m.
With the win, Denver maintains its spot a top the SBC West Division and improves to 13-6 overall and 8-1 in the league.
Brittney Rutledge came off the bench to record 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Christian Shelter also finished the contest in double digits with 15 points. Siedah Banks added nine points of her own and a career-high nine assists.
The Pioneers were paced by the duo of Kaetlyn Murdoch and Brianna Culberson - both of whom recorded new career-highs and combined for 48 of Denver's 71 points. Murdoch led all scorers with 25 points and 12 rebounds, while Culberson ended the afternoon with 23 points and six rebounds. Murdoch was 11-for-15 from the floor and Culberson hit nine of her 13 attempts, including both of Denver's three-pointers.
"Our post defense was awful in the first half. We played a lot better in the second half," Pietri said. "That's what gave us a chance to get the lead. We had some horrific individual mental break downs that cost us in the second half. When you are talking about a one-possession game, each one of those could have been the difference in the game. When you are playing against another 7-1 team, you can't have excessive mistakes. Denver is a very good team. As a result, we made too many mistakes to win it."
Led by Murdoch and Culberson, the Pioneers held a huge advantage in the paint, outscoring the Jags 34-8.
Paced by Rutledge's solid outing off the bench, the USA reserves outscored the Pioneer reserves 34-2.
Coming out of the intermission, Murdoch connected on a pair of free throws to give Denver a seven-point advantage (40-33) less than a minute into the period, but on the Jags' next possession, Banks drained a three-pointer from the left wing to ignite the Jaguars. With 17:03 left to go in the game, Shelter knocked down a jumper in the lane to tie the contest back up at 42-42. Then after a Pioneer turnover, Banks found Shelter open on the wing for a trey to give USA its first lead of the game.
South Alabama kept the momentum and eventually grabbed its largest lead of the contest at 53-46 after a Shaniece Brunner bucket with just under 12 minutes left in regulation. The basket by Brunner capped off a 13-4 run for the Jags.
With USA still holding a 55-49 lead with 10 to go, Britteni Rice connected on a jumper of her own to begin a run of seven unanswered points for Denver. Murdoch capped off the scoring and put the Pioneers back out in front (56-55) with a layup at the 8:16 mark.
DU kept the momentum over the next several minutes and pushed its lead back out to seven (67-60) when coming out of a time out and the shot clock about to expire, Ashly Robinson sank a jumper a step inside the top of the key with less than four minutes remaining.
USA battled back in the closing minutes and put itself into possession to send the game into overtime. Shelter drained her second trey of the day at the 1:24 mark to trim the deficit to four and then Rutledge brought the Jags to within one (69-68) with a three-pointers with 29 seconds left. After being fouled, Rice only hit one of her two attempts at the stripe for the Pioneers, giving South Alabama a chance to either win the game or go to the extra period. Tashley Gaines' running jumper with six seconds left would not fall though and Murdoch came up with the loose ball with one tick remaining. She hit the first free throw to set the final margin and then missed the second not allowing USA a final shot.
Murdoch and Britteni Rice provided the scoring early for Denver, combining to record the Pioneer's first 15 points. The duo also combined to put DU's first points on the board as Rice found Murdoch open underneath the basket for a layup. Over the first 20 minutes of play, South Alabama had a hard time slowing Murdoch down as the sophomore post player was 7-of-8 from the field for 14 points.
Like Wednesday's contest, the Jaguars came out struggling, missing their first five shots. Nearly five minutes into the game, Shakira Nettles got USA on the board with a layup. The senior deflected a Pioneer pass and raced down the floor for the bucket. Rutledge came off the bench and drained a pair of three-pointers over the next few minutes to keep the Jags in the game.
Following a jumper from Sarah Feeney at the 9:41 mark to put the Pioneers up 17-10, Rutledge drained her third trey of the half to pull USA to within in four (19-15) with seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the period. Murdoch and Culberson though came right back and gave DU its largest lead of the half at 24-15. Culberson found Murdoch open under the basket for another layup and then knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing to push the deficit out to nine with 6:47 to go. Like Murdoch, Culberson did most of her damage inside during the opening period of play, recording 13 points.
South Alabama was able to get as close as four with just over four minutes to go, before heading into the locker room trailing 38-33.
Entering the game as one of the nation's top shooting teams, Denver came out and shot a blistering 63 percent from the field, hitting 17 of its 27 attempts. The Pioneers did most of their damage inside, as 13 of their 17 made field goals, 13 were layups. Points in the paint were a key stat during the first stanza, as the Pioneers held a 26-2 advantage at the half. USA did a much better job defending the paint in the second half, only allowing eight DU points.
The Jaguar bench kept South Alabama in the first half, posting 19 points - 13 coming from Rutledge.
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: Shakira Nettles moved into 15th-place on the Jags' all-time scoring chart. She now has 1,103 for her career. The nine assists by Siedah Banks was a new career-high for the junior point guard, The 19 assists by South Alabama against Denver was the second-highest tally by USA this season and the most in a conference game. Denver improves to 14-7 in the all-time series and 8-2 in games played in Denver. The two clubs will meet one more time during the regular season, when the Pioneers travel to Mobile to take on South Alabama on Feb. 24. The four steals by Tashley Gaines tied a career-high and the four three-pointers by Brittney Rutledge were also a career-best.
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