MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama women's basketball team's rally attempt came up short Wednesday evening as Florida Atlantic held on to pick up a 62-55 Sun Belt Conference win at the Mitchell Center. The Jags trailed by as many as 16 point in the second half, but could not get any closer than five down the stretch, before falling to the Owls.
"Florida Atlantic) is a good team," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "We had to play well to beat them at their place. It wasn't like it just happened. We had to play with intensity, desire and heart to beat them at their place, and we just had none, not until four minutes left to go. We acted like we weren't interested until the last four minutes. You have to give Florida Atlantic credit, they came in with a good plan, did some really good things and made plays. They made big time shots at the end of the shot clock, contested shots. You've got to give them credit."
USA (12-9, 7-2 SBC) will now try to regroup and snap its three-game skid Saturday when the Jags head to Troy to take on the Trojans. Tip-off is set for 5:15 p.m. at Trojan Arena. The win for the Owls was their first-ever in Mobile and with the win, FAU evened its record to 10-10 on the season and 6-4 in the Sun Belt.
Christian Shelter was one of three players to finish the night in double-digits for the Jags, posting 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Along with Shaniece Bruner, she also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Siedah Banks tied a career-high with 15 points, while Morriah Smith added 12 points of her own.
Florida Atlantic was led offensively by Lyrell Barfield's 16 points. The junior guard did most of her damage from beyond the three-point line, knocking down four of her six attempts. Brittany Bowe also had 13 points for the Owls.
Shelter opened up the scoring with a three-pointer less than a minute into the game, but Florida Atlantic came right back with seven-straight points to take its first lead of the night. Carla Stubbs' layup at the 17:05 mark put the Owls up by four, but over the next three and a half minutes, the Jags answered right back with a 9-2 run. Banks capped off the scoring and gave USA a 12-9 lead with a pair of free throws with 13 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the opening half.
Barfield later tied the contest back up at 16 with a three-pointer from the left wing at the 8:16 mark. The Barfield trey was the first of three-straight for the Owls and ignited an 18-2 run over the next four minutes. Jessica Knurick and Bowe capped off the scoring and gave FAU its largest lead of the half at 31-18 with a pair of baskets, the last coming on a Bowe pull up jumper in the lane.
Trailing by 13 with under four minutes to go in the half, Smith ended the offensive drought for the Jaguars with a jumper in the lane of her own. For Smith, the bucket was the first of nine unanswered USA points to end the half. Smith hit another bucket during the final minute to trim the half time deficit to four (31-27).
In the second half, USA was able to keep the deficit below double figures over the first four minutes, but leading by six (40-34), FAU reeled off seven-straight points - the last three coming on a Teri Stamps trey - to push its advantage back out to 13 with less than 12 minutes to go. Five minutes later, Barfield drained another trey, this one coming as the shot clock expired, to take its biggest lead of the game at 54-38.
As it did for much of the first half, South Alabama struggled to find its shooting touch for much of the second half. The Jags were only able to connect on four of their first 20 shots in the final period.
Still trailing by 15 with under six minutes to go, Banks tried to spark the USA offense, recording six-straight points. Playing with more energy on the defensive end of the floor, South Alabama forced the Owls to start turning the ball over and pulled to within five (60-55) with under a minute to go after a pair of conventional three-point plays from Tashley Gaines and Banks. Those would be the final points for USA, as the Jags could not draw any closer. Stubbs sealed the victory for Florida Atlantic when she hit one of her two attempts at the charity stripe with less than 10 seconds remaining to make it a three possession game.
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: USA's Siedah Banks tied a career-high with her 15-point outing...The point tally was the most for Banks since scoring 15 points at Ohio back on Nov. 13, 2007...The three three-pointers by South Alabama were the second fewest in a game for the Jags this season and the lowest tally since Dec. 16 vs. UALR...The two points by Shakira Nettles was a season-low for the senior...USA's bench - which had outscored its opponents' bench 537-239 - was outscored for just the fourth time this season and the first time since its game at Florida International (Dec. 31).
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