Tulane Game Notes (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team will face a tough test Saturday evening when it opens the 2010-11 season Saturday on the road versus reigning Conference USA champion Tulane. 

“The bottom line when talking about Tulane is that they are good,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “They return four out of five starters from a team that won Conference USA and represented their league in the NCAA tournament. There’s no question that with us going on the road into their building, we are going to have to function at a very high level in order to win.  (Tulane) has a very versatile roster with kids who can do a number of different things, which will make personnel decisions over the course of the game very difficult.  We’re going to prepare the best that we can and step on the floor and see what happens.”

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Fogleman Areana.  Live stats and a web cast of the game versus the Green Wave can be accessed at www.usajaguars.com.

South Alabama comes into its season opener returning three starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s club, while welcoming four newcomers.  On Monday night, USA forced 30 turnovers and converted them into 28 points en route to a 57-47 exhibition victory over West Florida.    Senior guard Brittney Rutledge led the Lady Jags with 15 points in the win.

Highlighting the list of returnees for the Jaguars is senior forward Christian Shelter.  In her first season in a South Alabama uniform, the Mobile native led the team in both scoring with 12.1 points per game and three-pointers made (48) and connected 34.5 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc - 10th in the Sun Belt – a year ago.

Also among the returnees for the Lady Jags this season is three-year starter Siedah Banks.  As a junior, Banks averaged 8.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 3.3 apg.  She also ranked 26th nationally in assist/turnover ratio and was one of the top free-throw shooters in the conference, knocking down 80 percent of her attempts. 

Saturday’s game will also be the first of the season for the Green Wave as they didn’t play any exhibition games, choosing to only play two controlled, closed scrimmages.  As mentioned by Pietri earlier, Tulane returns four starters and eight letterwinners from their 2009-10 squad which finished the year with a 26-7 record and captured both the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles.

Despite the loss of leading scorer Chassity Brown and key reserve Indira Kaljo - both of whom graduated - Tulane does return 70.9 percent of its scoring and 77.3 percent of its rebounding from last season.

Leading the way for Tulane are preseason C-USA all-conference selection Danielle Nunn and 2010 C-USA all-freshman team member Olivia Grayson.  Nunn, who was also a third-team all-conference selection in 2010, is the returning leading scorer for Tulane, as she averaged 11.0 ppg.  The 5-9 guard/forward from Arlington, Texas also knocked down 54.9 percent of her shots - tops on the team.

In her first collegiate season, Grayson started 17 games for Tulane, averaging 8.3 points per game.  Both Nunn and Grayson will be looked upon to fill in the void left by Brown and Kaljo.

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:  Saturday night’s game between South Alabama and Tulane will be the 20th in the all-time series between the two clubs, but just the second time in the series since the 1997-98 season.  The Green Wave picked up a 73-71 victory in Mobile in the closing seconds a season ago and has now taken the last four meetings in the series.  USA has a 12-7 advantage in the series with Tulane holding a slim 5-4 advantage in the nine meetings in New Orleans.  USA’s Pietri and Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton have met just one time during their coaching careers.  That meeting came last season, a 73-71 victory by Stockton’s Green Wave team in Mobile.  Stockton has faced South Alabama three times during her career, winning each of those games.  In 36 seasons, the South Alabama women’s basketball program is 18-18 and 6-4 in season openers under Pietri.  USA is 9-27 in road openers and 4-6 in those same games under Pietri.  Last season, the Lady Jags opened the 2009-10 campaign with a 72-53 loss at Southern Miss.