South Alabama 65, Florida Atlanitc 53 - Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Behind junior guard Sarda Peterson’s 15 points, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team picked up its first Sun Belt Conference win of the season with a 65-53 victory over Florida Atlantic Wednesday night at FAU Arena.

Peterson, who grew up not too far from the FAU campus playing prep ball in Ft. Myers, Fla., recorded nine of her points in the second half and sparked a Jaguar run early frame with a three-pointer.  Brittney Rutledge, who also finished in double-digits in the win, was just as instrumental in the win as she posted 11 of her 13 points in the final period of play.  All 10 players who played for the Lady Jags scored at least two points.

“This was truly a team win for us,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “All 10 players that played scored for us.  We also defended pretty well.  We didn’t give up a lot of easy baskets, which is what I think led to (Florida Atlantic’s) low field goal percentage.  They have some gifted players, so we had to be ready to hunker down and compete.  I thought we fought with a little bit rougher edge as a team in the second half than we did in the first half.  I think that rougher edge led to us doing a much better job on the glass in the second half.  We just made more plays then.  We were able to extend our lead out and do enough to hold on in the end.”

For the 13th time this season, Taylor Ammons led USA on the glass with a game-high 12 boards, 10 coming on the defensive glass.  As a team, South Alabama held a 49-46 advantage in rebounding and a 28-20 margin in the final half.  South Alabama also outscored the Owls 42-20 in the paint.

Florida Atlantic (3-11, 0-3 SBC) was paced offensively by Lyrell Barfield’s 16 points, 11 of which came in the final four minutes of play.  Breana Turner finished the night close behind Barfield with 14 points, but was held to just two points in the second half.

South Alabama, who entered the contest tied with Old Dominion for the nation’s lead in three-point defense, held FAU to just 6-of-27 shooting from beyond the arc.

USA (9-6, 1-2 SBC) will now close out its two-game road swing on Saturday when the Lady Jags travel to take on Florida International.  Tip-off versus the Golden Panthers is set for 3:30 p.m. (CT) at U.S. Century Bank Arena. 

Peterson gave USA an early two-point advantage after recording a layup on the Lady Jags’ first possession of the game.  However, Florida Atlantic came right back and rattled off seven-straight points and clamed 7-2 lead at the 15:47 mark after a Turner three-pointer from the right wing.  Turner led all scorers during the first 20 minutes of play as the senior guard recorded 12 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting. 

USA later pulled to within one after layups from Siedah Banks and Cylenthia Kennon, but the Owls again responded and stretched their lead back out to 15-10 after an old-fashioned three-point play from Turner with 12 minutes, 24 seconds left on the clock.

South Alabama began to claw its way back and with seven minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the opening period of play, Christian Shelter knocked down her first trey of the night to put USA back out in front, 19-18.

Over the next several minutes, the two clubs went back-and-forth, but tied at 23-23 with less than three minutes to play in the half, Shelter knocked down a jumper, Peterson drove the lane for a layup and Lauren Walker hit the front end of a none-and-one opportunity at the free-throw line to give South Alabama a five-point advantage with less than a minute to go.  Following a missed shot from the Jaguars, Kim Smith drove the lane and picked up a foul with 1.8 seconds on the clock.  Smith stepped to the line and sank both of her attempts to send the two clubs into the locker room with USA holding a 28-25 advantage.

The Jaguar defense held the Owls to just 24.2 percent shooting in the first half, as they connected on just eight of their attempts from the floor.  Outside of the shooting of Turner, FAU was just 2-of-23 from the floor in the first period of play.

Following an empty Jaguar possession to open the second half, Smith tied the contest back up at 28-28 with a three-pointer from the left wing.  USA answered Smith’s long-range bucket though with a 7-0 run over the Peterson ignited the scoring spurt with a three-pointer on South Alabama’s next possession.  Rutledge then knocked down a pair of buckets to give the Lady Jags a 35-28 lead at the 17:39 mark.

FAU was able to get as close as three on a couple of occasions over the next several minutes, but with the Lady Jags leading 43-38 with less than nine minutes to play, USA reeled off eight unanswered points to take its first double-figure lead of the game.  All eight of the points scored during the run came as a result of the Lady Jags crashing the offensive glass and creating second-chance opportunities.

With just over four minutes remaining on the clock, South Alabama grabbed its largest lead of the game at 56-40 when sophomore forward Veronica Cherizol pulled down an offensive miss and laid the ball back in off the glass.  Cherizol was fouled on the play and converted the free throw to give USA the 16-point advantage at the 4:06 mark.

Barfield hit three-straight treys down the stretch to try to ignite a late Florida Atlantic rally, but South Alabama was able to hit enough of its free-throw opportunities down the stretch and never allowed the Owls to get the deficit under double figures.

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).