Box Score - South Alabama 93, Mobile 54 (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team tied an arena record with 14 three-pointers Wednesday evening as they coasted to a 93-54 victory over Mobile at the Mitchell Center.

“I have a lot of confidence in this team’s ability to shoot the ball,” South Alabama women’s head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We had four different players hit threes tonight. It’s a strength of our team so it’s something that we will continue to do. When it’s there we’re going to shoot it. We’re not going to force it, but when it’s there we’re going to shoot it. That’s how we play. It looks really good when they go in and fortunately for us, they went in at a very high rate this evening.”

USA (6-4) will now travel to Natchitoches, La., on Sunday to take on Northwestern State.  Tip-off versus the Lady Demons is set for 2 p.m. at Prather Coliseum.

Playing with only nine players dressed out for the game due to injury, South Alabama placed four players in double figures led by Sarda Peterson’s career-high 25 points.  The Ft. Myers, Fla., native was 9-of-12 from the field and tied a school record with her seven three-pointers.  The seven treys were the most by a Lady Jag since Jessica Starling’s seven at Western Kentucky on Feb. 8, 2009. 

“The coaches have a lot of confidence in me and I think that as a shooter, I have to have a lot of confidence in myself,” Peterson said.  “I was in a slump, not making my threes like I should. I came in early and got some extra shots up and it helped tonight.”

Also finishing the night in double digits for South Alabama was Taylor Ammons (17), Christian Shelter (16) and Ronneka Robertson (10).  All nine players played at least 17 minutes and scored.  Ammons was 8-of-11 from the field, while Shelter connected on six of her 11 attempts, including four three-pointers. 

Senior point guard Siedah Banks was spectacular as the Little Rock, Ark., native dished out a career-best 11 assists, the first time a Jaguar has recorded 10 or more in a game since Ashley Gamble versus Southern Miss back on Nov. 21, 2005.  Banks also recorded six points and four rebounds against the Lady Rams.

As a team, USA was 37-for-74 from the floor for 50 percent.  The Jaguars also connected on 14 of their 24 attempts from long range to end the game at 58.3 percent shooting.  USA not only did its damage from outside, but the Lady Jags also held a 46-22 advantage in the paint.  South Alabama recorded a season-high 13 steals and forced Mobile into 25 turnovers.  The Lady Jags were able to convert those miscues into 34 points.

Mobile was paced offensively by Alice Honnery’s 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting.  As a team, the Lady Rams were 21-of-58 from the floor for 36.2 percent.

Entering as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, South Alabama used the long ball early on to jump out to a 16-6 lead with just a little over four minutes played.  Shelter and Peterson each drained a pair of treys to get the offense going and Ammons had a couple of layups to give USA the 10-point advantage at the 15:51 mark.

A minute later, Shelter knocked down her third trey of the have and Ronneka Robertson’s put back gave the Lady Jags a 21-9 advantage. 

Mobile’s Morgan Crawford trimmed USA’s lead to seven (21-14) when with back-to-back buckets with just over 11 minutes to go.  Prior to the two Crawford baskets, eight of the Lady Rams’ first nine points had come from Honnery.

On the ensuing possession by the Lady Jags, Banks found Veronica Cherizol wide open under the basket for a layup  The assists to Cherizol was one of her nine during the first 20 minutes of action and ignited a 33-8 run over the final 11 minutes of the half.  Peterson then followed with another deep three-pointer on USA’s next possession.  During the scoring barrage, South Alabama continued its assault from beyond the arc hitting six more three-pointers. 

Banks, who had done most of her damage passing the ball, found a crack in the Lady Ram defense and drove the right baseline for a layup at the 1:16 mark to give the Jags their largest lead of the first stanza at 54-20.  USA later headed into the locker room with a 32-point advantage.

In the second half, the Lady Jags weren’t as sharp defensively as they were during the final 10 minutes of the opening half, but USA never allowed the Lady Rams to get any closer than 29 points in the final period of play.  Peterson set the scoring tone early in the second half as she had eight of South Alabama’s first 10 points.

Peterson’s three-pointer at the 15:54 mark of the half tied the school and arena marks.  Two minutes later, Mary Nixon drained a trey of her own from the left corner to tie the team mark for three-pointers.  South Alabama cruised the rest of the half and went on to take the 39-point victory.

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: Cylenthia Kennon (shoulder), Lauren Walker (thigh) and Mansa El (illness) did not dress for the game.  The 54 points by the Lady Jags in the first half set a new season high for points scored during the opening period of play.  Siedah Banks tied her career-high in assists with nine during the first 20 minutes of play and set a new career-high with11 for the game.  The seven three-pointers by Sarda Peterson tied a school record.  The 14 three-pointers by the Lady Jags was not only a season high, but also set a new Mitchell Center mark.