Photo Gallery

Post Game Quotes

Box Score - UALR 75, South Alabama 66 (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – Trailing by as many as 19 in the second half, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team was able to rally back and get as close as two on three occasions, but UALR was able to hit a majority of its attempts at the free-throw line to hold off the Lady Jags Wednesday evening and pick up a 75-66 victory at the Mitchell Center. 

“We talked about how we had fought back in non-conference games and we haven’t done it at all since Christmas,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “Every time we’ve been behind, other than the Troy game, we haven’t come back. Now we have to measure ourselves as individuals to know that when the boat is taking water, we have to get the water out of the boat and not let it sink. With our team, when we’re good, we’re good, but when it’s not. We just have not been a good basketball team. We haven’t shown any resolve, other than in the Troy game. In the second half, we did show resolve. We were down 19 to the West division champions and we cut it to two and had the ball two points behind twice. We had our chances to tie. I have to give my team kudos for finally bringing it back and doing it against a quality opponent. Now we have to have some resolve to come back here on Sunday and get a win leading into the conference tournament.”

USA (15-12, 7-8 SBC) will now close out the regular season portion of its schedule when it hosts Florida Atlantic on Sunday.  Tip off versus the Owls is set for 2:05 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.  Prior to tip-off, USA will honor its four seniors – Siedah Banks, Brittney Rutledge, Christian Shelter and Vannessa Simmons.

With the win, UALR improves to 19-6 overall and 13-1 in the Sun Belt.  The Trojan’s Chastity Reed set a new Mitchell Center record in the win with 40 points on 17-of-29 shooting.  Reed also set new arena marks for field goals made and attempted.  The 40 points were a new season-high for the senior and just three short of tying her career best.  Reed also tied a career-high with 11 rebounds.

“In the first half, defensively, our positioning wasn’t bad; (Chastity) Reed was just making plays” Pietri said. “She makes it look so easy, but, this is not the first 40-point game in her career. She did it at the conference tournament twice last year. In the first half, she was in the zone. There were times when our defense broke down and we didn’t cover her like we were supposed to. We tried to go zone, but we didn’t execute it well.”

Asriel Rolfe added 20 points of her won, while also dishing out six assists for the Trojans.  Rolfe was 6-of-10 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe.  As a team, UALR was 13-of-16 at the line.   USA was just 1-of-4.

South Alabama was paced offensively by senior point guard and Little Rock native Banks’ 15 points.  Banks hit seven of her 12 attempts on the night and also added eight rebounds and three assists.  The double-figure scoring effort was Banks’ eighth of the season and the fifth in her last seven games.  Shelter added 11 points over her own, while Sarda Peterson and Mary Nixon each had eight points.

USA’s reserves added another solid effort off the bench, outscoring UALR’s 24-3.  The Lady Jags also held a 42-20 advantage on points in the paint in the loss.

Reed- the league’s preseason player of the year – lived up to her billing in the first half as the senior came out on fire, knocking down five of her first shots from the floor and posting 12 of UALR’s first 15 points. Reed would finish the first period of play with 30 points on 13-of-16 shooting.  The 30 point effort over the first 20 minutes of play would sit just four points shy of eclipsing the Mitchell Center record for points in a game. 

USA was able to hang around over the first eight minutes of the contest as Cylenthia Kennon’s layup narrowed the Jaguar deficit to 15-13 at the 12:13 mark.  Holding a two advantage with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half, UALR would again ride the scoring of Reed as the Trojans stretched their advantage out to double figures, outscoring USA 16-8 over the next five minutes.  Following a Taylor Ford jumper, Reed would go on to score 14-straight points for UALR.  The New Orleans native began the run of points with a three-pointer with 10 minutes, 23 seconds on the clock.  She later capped off the scoring with a layup with just over five minutes to go in the period.  Reed picked up an errant pass and raced the length of the floor for the basket to give the Trojans a 31-21 lead. 

The Lady Jags were again able to trim the deficit to single digits on Ronneka Robertson’s offensive put back with just over three minutes remaining before the intermission. 

UALR though again closed strong as the Trojans ended the half on a 12-2 run over the final minutes.  Marian Kursh sent UALR into the locker room with a 46-29 advantage as she knocked down a jumper in the lane seconds before the horn.

Led by the offensive explosion of Reed, the Trojans drained 19 of their 32 attempts in the first half for a 59.4 shooting percentage.  USA also had one it its best offensive showings over the first 20 minutes of play going 14-for-30 from the field for 46.7 percent shooting.  The Lady Jag bench provided most of the scoring, posting 20 pints in the period.

UALR who turned the ball over just once in the first stanza came out sloppy to open the second half, committing three turnovers over the first three-plus minutes.  USA was able to take advantage and make a dent into the Trojans’ lead.  Kursh dropped in a shot on UALR’s first possession to give the Trojans their largest lead of the night at 19, but they would turn the ball over their next two trips down the court. 

Peterson – who had not taken a shot in the first half – drained a 15-footer with 19 minutes to go and ignited a run of eight-straight points and Taylor Ammons cut the UALR lead to 48-37 when Banks found her open under the basket for a layup with 16-and-a-half minutes on the clock.

Still trailing by 11 (53-42) after another bucket from Reed with a little over 12 minutes remaining, Peterson knocked down a deep trey from straight away to ignite another run of nine unanswered points for the Lady Jags.  After buckets from Nixon and Lauren Walker, Peterson chased down a loose ball and drove to the basket for a layup of her own to bring USA within two at 53-51 at the 9:27 mark. 

On UALR’s next possession, Shanika Butler hit a baseline jumper and Rolfe then recorded four-straight points to extend the Trojan lead back out to eight at 59-51 with just over six minutes showing on the scoreboard. 

South Alabama again tried to rally back and was able get as close as two on two more occasions.  Shelter began the charge when she dropped in USA’s next eight points.  Kennon found Shelter open on the wing for a trey to trim the deficit to 61-59 at the 4:36 mark.  UALR again turned to Reed when it needed a bucket as she hit a step-through jumper to answer the Shelter bucket. 

Two minutes later, Brittney Rutledge drained a baseline jumper of her own from the left corner to again pull USA within two at 63-61, but over the next minute, the Trojans rattled off eight-straight points – six coming from Reed – to stretch their lead back out to double figures (71-61). 

Over the final minute, 11seconds, UALR was able to convert eight of its nine opportunities at the foul line to preserve the nine-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).

NOTE:  USA’s Vannessa Simmons missed the game after suffering a knee injury Tuesday night at practice.  Her knee will be reevaluated and her status will be determined then.  Prior to the start of the game versus UALR, South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri was presented with the game ball