Game Eleven - at Southern Miss Game Notes (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – Coming off an eight-day break for finals, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team returns to action this weekend when the Lady Jags travel to take on Conference USA foe, Southern Miss at the Reed Green Coliseum.  

“The break was good for us athletically and academically,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “It gave our kids a chance to collect themselves and concentrate on their exams.  It gave them a little bit of a physical break as well.  Now the task at hand is to try and go on the road and beat Southern Miss at their place, which is something we weren’t able to do two years ago.  They are a team with great guard play and a high level of athleticism.  They play at a very fast pace.  I know that it’s going to be a very competitive game and we can only hope that our team will bring the right amount of energy to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Tip-off between the Lady Jags and the Golden Eagles is set for 2 p.m.  Live stats for the contest will be available at www.usajaguars.com.  

South Alabama (7-3) comes into this weekend’s match up versus the Golden Eagles after breaking a week for final exams.  In their last contest, a 57-52 victory over Talladega, the Lady Jags fought off a sluggish performance and rallied late to pick up the five-point victory.

Against the Lady Tornadoes, Camille Reynolds broke a 52-52 tie with a three-pointer with 21.3 seconds remaining.  USA was then able to force a Talladega turnover and Mansa El knocked down a pair of free throws to preserve the win.

Reynolds, as she has done since the opening game, continues to pace the club offensively with 11.9 points per outing - which ranks 14th in the Sun Belt Conference.  The junior guard also ranks second in three-point field goal percentage (.429), eighth in the league in field goal percentage (.441), ninth in free throw shooting (.781) and 12th in treys per game (1.2).

El - a redshirt junior point guard - is right behind Reynolds offensively as she currently ranks 15th in the SBC in scoring with 11.6 ppg.  Coming into Sunday’s game versus USM, El has recorded double figures in seven of her last eight games, including 14 points in each of her last two contests.  Against Talladega, El was 4-for-10 from the field.  Over the last three games, El has knocked down 15 of her 31 attempts from the floor for 48.4 percent.  The Houston, Texas, native has also been one of the top free-throw shooters in the league this season as she is connecting on 78 percent of her attempts.  

On the glass, senior forward Taylor Ammons is tied leads the way, pulling down 7.2 rebounds per game, which is tied for ninth-best with Denver’s Maiya Michel.

Entering play this week, South Alabama leads the Sun Belt in seven different categories - scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage defense, three-pointers per game, rebounding offense, offensive rebounds and turnover margin.  USA also ranks second in the league in scoring offense, three-point field goal percentage defense, defensive rebounds and defensive rebounding percentage.

Southern Miss enters the contest after falling to 3-6 on the year with a 71-59 loss at Mississippi State on Friday.  The Bulldogs opened the game versus the Golden Eagles with a 12-0 run and led wire-to-wire.  USM was able to get as close as five in the first half, but MSU eventually extended its advantage out to as much as 26 in the second half.

Tanecka Carey led Southern Miss offensively in the loss with 21 points.  Coming into play this week, Carey ranked 27th nationally and second in C-USA in scoring with 19.3 points per game, while sophomore guard Jamierra Faulkner is also averaging double digits with 16.0 ppg - fifth-best in the conference.  

Faulkner ranks fourth in the NCAA and leads Conference USA in assists, averaging 7.0 per contest.  She also ranks in the top 10 of the league in steals (2.9 - tied for second), free-throw percentage (.778), three-point shooting (tied for seventh - .348), assist/turnover ratio (1.1 - eighth), minutes played (third - 36.2).

As a team, Southern Miss ranks 27th nationally in field goal percentage and 43rd in blocks, averaging five per outing.  The Golden Eagles are shooting 43.2 percent from the floor, while they are averaging 4.6 blocks per game.

Individually, Sedreka Plummer is averaging 1.9 (4th in C-USA) and Ance Celmina is close behind her with 1.6 per game (t-sixth).  

Amongst the rest of Conference USA, USM ranks third in scoring (66.4 ppg), but 11th in scoring defense (70.9 ppg) to its opponents.  

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 Miss will be the 25th in the all-time series.  USM leads the all-time series 14-10, while head coach Rick Pietri is 7-1 against the Golden Eagles during his career.  Last season, the Lady Jags avenged a 19-point loss from the season before and picked up a 95-61 victory over Southern Miss in Mobile.  USM holds a 9-3 advantage in the 12 previous meetings in Hattiesburg.  Since the 2001-02 season, USA has won three of the last four meetings at USM.  The meeting between Pietri and Southern Miss head coach Joye Lee-McNelis will be the eighth between the two coaches during their careers with Pietri holding a 6-1 advantage in those contests.  Lee-McNelis’ only win versus Pietri came during the 2009-10 Lady Jag season-opener in Hattiesburg.  The game versus Southern Miss will mark the 96th time USA has faced an opponent currently from Conference USA.  In those previous meetings, the Lady Jags are 45-50, while Pietri holds a 13-6 all-time versus the league.  South Alabama is 1-0 this season versus the league, having defeated Central Florida 89-76 in triple overtime in its season opener on Nov. 12.
 
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