MOBILE, Ala. - The University of South Alabama women's basketball team used a balanced offensive attack Saturday afternoon as the Jaguars snapped a three-game skid and picked up a 79-59 Sun Belt Conference victory over Louisiana-Lafayette at the Mitchell Center.
Six players had at least eight points in the win, with four finishing in double figure led by Christian Shelter's 16 points
"Our energy level at the beginning of the game was as good as it has been in a long time," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "We had seven different players hit three-pointers today and lately we haven't been shooting the ball well at all. It's not that we weren't capable, but we weren't bringing the right energy. Tonight we had that energy."
Sarda Peterson chipped in 11 points for the Jags and was 3-of-6 from three-point range. As a team, South Alabama tied a season-high with 13 treys and shot 50 percent from the arc (13-for-26). Cylenthia Kennon also tied a career-high with her 10 point outing and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the evening came from senior guard Shakira Nettles. Nettles posted 14 points of her own on 6-of-9 shooting, but did not start the game for USA after attending her father's funeral earlier in the day.
"(Nettles' performance) was unbelievable when you factor in that she attended her dad's funeral at one o'clock in Moss Point, Miss., and then was back here literally tying her shoes during pregame introductions," Pietri said of her play in the win. "She then went and stretched in the hallway and got herself ready while the game was being played. How emotionally draining that must have been and then to come in with the energy that she brought is special."
ULL's Alexis Green led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Mercedes Johnson finished with 11 points for the Cajuns after seeing limited action in the first half due to foul trouble and Jasmine Barnes had 10. Green, Johnson and Barnes each had six rebounds.
USA (14-12, 9-6 SBC) will now begin a two-game road swing on Wednesday when it heads to Bowling Green, Ky., to take on Western Kentucky. Tip-off versus the Lady Toppers is set for 7:05 p.m. at E.A. Diddle Arena.
With the loss, the Ragin' Cajuns fall to 8-18 on the season and 3-11 in league play.
Rebounding was the story early on for the Jags, as they pulled down 12 of the first 13, including seven at the offensive end that led to nine second chance points. South Alabama kept crashing the boards over the first 20 minutes of play and held a 25-10 advantage at the intermission.
ULL's Johnson - who was coming off a 39 point, 16 rebound performance against Florida Atlantic on Wednesday - got into early foul trouble after picking up her second foul of the half, just two-and-a-half minutes into the game. She was forced to sit for most of the period.
With USA holding a 5-4 advantage with 17:39 on the clock, the Jaguar women took advantage of Johnson's absence and erupted for nine unanswered points. Siedah Banks got the scoring going for USA with an offensive put back and after baskets from Brittney Rutledge and Kennon, Shelter capped off the run with three-pointer and a jumper to give South Alabama a 16-4 lead with 13:18 remaining in the opening half.
ULL trimmed the deficit to six (16-10) after a pair of D'Mya Clay buckets and two free throws from Jamie Gunter, but Lauren Walker and Nettles drained back-to-back treys to stretch the lead back out to 22-10 with less than 10 minutes left.
The Ragin'Cajuns pulled to within eight a minute later on a Green jumper in the lane, but the duo of Nettles and Walker again had the answer for the Jags, knocking down two more treys. Nettles then found Walker open in the paint for a layup to give USA a 16-point advantage, 30-14, with just over six minutes to go.
Shelter's layup with under a minute remaining gave USA its largest lead of the half at 19 and sent USA into the locker room with a 40-21 advantage.
Along with rebounding, three-point shooting was the story in the first half for both clubs. USA came out on fire from the arc, connecting on eight of its attempts from long ranges, while ULL was 0-for-5.
Johnson and Green tried to help the Ragin' Cajuns rally, as they combined to record all 14 of Louisiana-Lafayette's points over the first five minutes of the half, but the Nettles, Shelter and Kennon would not let Louisiana-Lafayette get any closer than 14 (43-29) and eventually allowed USA to stretch its lead. The trio combined to record South Alabama's first 19 points of the second stanza and Nettles put the Jags up 59-35 with a jumper in the lane at the 13:53 mark.
Following a bucket from Barnes, Peterson and Vannessa Simmons put the game away with 13-0 run that eventually gave USA a 35-point lead (72-37) - its largest lead of the night. Peterson began the run with a layup and her second trey of the game. Simmons then had a layup and a three-pointer of her own, before Peterson finished off the scoring with another deep trey.
Louisiana-Lafayette kept battling and the Jags got a little careless with the ball down the stretch, but USA went on to capture the 20-point win.
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: With the win, South Alabama has now won four-straight in the series and five of the last six. USA now leads the all-time series 27-11 and is 14-3 versus ULL under head coach Rick Pietri. Senior post player Shaniece Brunner had two blocks against the Ragin' Cajuns to move past former Jag Dina Jones for fifth on career blocks chart. The 13 three-pointers by the Jags tied a season-high and was one trey from tying a Mitchell Center record for a South Alabama club. The Jags had not recorded more than six three-pointers in any of their previous five games. Cylenthia Kennon tied a career-high with her 10 point outing. The 79 points were also the most points for South Alabama since scoring 81 versus Troy back on Jan. 16.
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