Box Score - South Alabama 95, Southern Miss 61 (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team used a 29-8 run midway through the first half and connected on its first seven three-point attempts Tuesday evening  crusingto a 95- 61 victory over Southern Miss at the Mitchell Center.

USA (1-1) will now travel to take on defending SWAC champion Southern on Friday with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m. at the F.G. Clark Activity Center. 

The Lady Jags placed six players in double-figures and all 11 players who saw action were able to get into the scoring column against the Golden Eagles.  The last time South Alabama placed five or more players in double-digits was in last season’s home opener versus Spring Hill, a 100-41 defeat of the Lady Badgers. 

Leading the way offensively for the Jags was Sarda Peterson, who posted a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.  Mansa El was close behind Peterson, as she came off the bench to record 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a career-best three treys.  El was also 3-for-3 at the free-throw line and pulled down five rebounds.  Following Peterson and El in the scoring column were Christian Shelter and Lauren Walker with 12 points each and Taylor Ammons with 11 points of her own.  The 12 points for Walker was also a new career-best for the Cabot, Ark., native, as she was 4-for-7 on the night, including 2-of-2 from long range. 

As a team, South Alabama shot 55 percent from the arc, knocking down 11 of its 20 attempts.  USA also held a huge advantage on the glass, out rebounding Southern Miss, 52-30. 

“I have to be pleased with the effort we gave tonight,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We played physical enough to out rebound a Conference USA team, 52-30. We turned it over three-straight times, but then we composed ourselves. From that point forward, we had very little problems with (Southern Miss’) pressure for the rest of the game. I think that our kids handled the pressure well and a number of different players made tremendous positive contributions to our effort. I feel really good about what the bench was able to supply for tonight. We executed things that we work on just the way that we work on them. It’s really rewarding as a coach, when you get to see the things that you actually work on manifest themselves exactly the way that you scripted it. I was real please in every phase of the game.”

As they did for most of last season and through the exhibition game against West Florida and the season opener against Tulane, the Jaguar reserves came up big again, out-scoring USM’s bench, 45-13.  In USA’s first two games of the regular season, the Lady Jag bench has out-scored their opponents 80-24.

The Golden Eagles (1-1) were paced by Tanesha Washington’s 20 points and 10 rebounds.  Jamierra Faulkner and Tandrea High also chipped in with 13 points apiece for Southern Miss.

After the Lady Jags had taken an early three-point advantage, Southern Miss rattled off seven unanswered points and took an 11-7 lead on a three-pointer from the left corner by Niesha Pierce at the 14:21 mark of the first half.  

On the ensuing possession though, USA’s Walker drained a trey of her own from the right wing that ignited a 29-8 Jaguar run over the next 10 minutes.  Leading by one (16-15) with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first period of play El took over and provided a spark to the South Alabama offense.  The junior guard was fouled but was still able to knock down a three-pointer from the wing.  She converted the bonus attempt and then on USA’s next possession, threaded a pass through the Southern Miss defense to Veronica Cherizol for an easy layup.  With less than nine minutes to go in the period, El again dialed up from long distance and drained her second trey of the half, this one from the right wing to give the Lady Jags a double-digit lead (25-15).

USA continued to use the three-point shot during the run, connecting on a total of six over the 10 minute span.  Still leading by nine (28-19) after a Washington bucket with seven-and-a-half minutes to go before the break, Brittney Rutledge got into the deep shooting act, hitting a trey of her own and Shelter then had trey of her own drop after rattling around and later hit a turnaround jumper with less than five minutes on the clock to give South Alabama its largest lead of the first stanza at 36-19.

Holding a 17 point advantage with just over three minutes to go before the half, the Jags got a little sloppy and Southern Miss was able to reel off six-straight points to cut the half time deficit to 38-27. 

Early in the second half, Southern Miss tried to fight back and with the shot clock winding down, High’s three-pointer from near the top of the key trimmed USA’s single-digits (43-34) at the 17:09 mark.  On the Jags’ next trip down the floor though, Siedah Banks followed her own miss and laid the ball off the glass.  The senior was fouled on the play and converted the bonus.  A minute later, Peterson recorded a layup and extended South Alabama’s lead back out to 14.

Leading 60-48 with just over eight minutes to go in the contest, South Alabama broke things open with another run, this one a 12-2 spurt over a three minute stretch that extended the Jaguar advantage out to72-50.  With under four minutes to go, USA rattled off a 13-0 run that increased South Alabama’s lead out to 33 (88-55) with one minute, 37 seconds to go.  From there, the Lady Jags went on to capture the 34-point win.

The 34-point margin of victory by the Jags is their largest in the series versus Southern Miss and the largest overall since the 1997-98 season when USM defeated USA 91-55 in Hattiesburg.

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).