Game Notes - Southern Game Notes (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off a thrilling triple-overtime victory over defending Conference USA champion Central Florida, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team will face its second-straight league champ when the Lady Jags welcome Southwestern Athletic Conference member Southern to the Mitchell Center Tuesday night.  SU has won the SWAC title each of the last two seasons.

“This is the second-consecutive postseason team that we will have faced,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “Sandy Pugh always does a great job with her Southern squads.  While they have lost some good kids and have had some roster turnover because of graduation, she always finds a way to replenish her roster with very gifted kids.  I know this year is no exception.  The biggest thing for us, frankly, is to put the success of Saturday night behind us and understand that we have a more than worthy foe that’s going to come in here to face us on Tuesday night.”

Tip-off versus the Jaguars set for 7:05 p.m.  Live stats and web streaming of the contest between USA and SU is available at www.usajaguars.com.

South Alabama (1-0) enters the midweek contest versus Southern after rallying back from a 16-point second half deficit to pick up an 89-76 triple overtime victory over Central Florida.  USA - who had struggled offensively through the first half and the first part of the second - trailed 45-29 with 14:10 remaining, but to cut away at the deficit, tying the game up at 55-55 with 17 seconds on a Mansa El basket.  South Alabama trailed  by three with time running out in the second overtime until Camille Reynolds drained a fade-away three-pointer with 0.7 seconds showing on the clock.  The Lady Jags were finally able to put the Knights away in the third overtime as they closed out the game on a run of 11 unanswered points to take the 13-point victory.

Reynolds led all scorers as the junior came off the bench to record 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting.  The Rathdrum, Idaho, native was 4-of-5 from the arc and a perfect 7-for-7 at the free-throw line.  Her point tally was one-point shy of tying a Lady Jag Mitchell Center record.  

Fellow junior guard Mary Nixon also ended the night in double digits as she finished with 12 points and six rebounds.  Preseason third team all-conference selection Sarda Peterson chipped in with eight points of her own and played an amazing 43 of the 55 minutes in the game.  Senior post players Cylenthia Kennon and Taylor Ammons led USA on the glass with eight and seven boards, respectively.  

Southern also enters Tuesday’s contest after opening the 2011-12 campaign with a victory as the Jaguars captured a 66-47 victory over NAIA program Dillard University on Friday.  

DU held a brief two-point advantage (12-10) with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half, but Southern answered right back and took control of the game with a 13-1 run over the next 10 minutes and was never threatened again by the Bleu Devils.  Southern went on to lead by as much as 27 in the second half before picking up the 19-point victory.

Essence Hopkins led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field.  Sophomore post player Adanna David also chipped in with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

First-team preseason all-conference selection Jamie Floyd had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.  As a junior, Floyd started 22 games and averaged 8.7 points per game and 6.8 rebounds.  She was even better in conference play, raising both averages to 9.9 ppg and 8.3 rpg.  She also shot 49.8 percent from the floor for Southern.

Southern connected on 40.3 percent of its shots against Dillard, but was just 2-for-10 from the arc.  The Jaguars also held a 47-41 advantage on the glass and pulled down 20 offensive rebounds.  

Over the past several seasons, Southern has been the top program in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.  Last season, the Jags captured the regular season title and finished with a 18-9 overall record and a 15-2 league mark.  Despite losing four of their five top scorers, the Jaguars were still the preseason pick to defend their SWAC title.  SU returns just six players from last season’s team which lost in the first round of the WNIT to Tulane.  They do however welcome eight newcomers to the 2011-12 roster.

SU is led by head coach Sandy Pugh who is in her 12th season with the program.  During that time she has amassed 188 wins, four NCAA Tournaments, two WNIT appearances and four regular season Southwestern Athletic Conference Championships.

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: The meeting between South Alabama and Southern will be the 15th in the all-time series between the two clubs.  USA holds a 12-3 advantage in the all-time series and a perfect 8-0 in games played in Mobile.  Last season, USA picked up a 69-38 victory over Southern in Baton Rouge, La.  USA is 9-2 against Southern under head coach Rick Pietri.  The meeting between Pietri and Southern head coach Sandy Pugh will be the 12th between the two coaches.  Pietri holds a 9-2 advantage in those previous 11 meetings.

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