Box Score - South Alabama 53, Florida Atlantic 40

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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team sent its four seniors out victorious Sunday afternoon as the Lady Jags closed out the regular season with a 53-40 victory over Florida Atlantic at the Mitchell Center.  Prior to the contest, South Alabama honored its four seniors – Siedah Banks, Brittney Rutledge, Christian Shelter and Vannessa Simmons.  The trio of Banks, Rutledge and Shelter did their part in helping guide the Jaguars to the 13-point win as they combined to record 29 of USA’s 53 points.

USA (16-12, 8-8 SBC) will now head to Hot Springs, Ark., to participate in the 2011 Sun Belt Conference Championships.  The Lady Jags enter as the fourth seed from the East Division and will open up tournament play versus Louisiana-Lafayette – the fifth seed in the West Division – on Saturday (March 5) at 2:30 p.m. on the Convention Center Court.  Florida Atlantic falls to 7-20 on the year and 4-12 in the league with the loss.

Leading the way offensively for South Alabama was Banks, who posted 13 points – her sixth double-figure scoring game in her last eight contests.   Banks did most of her damage at the foul line where she was 9-for-12.  She also added three assists and six rebounds.  Shelter and Rutledge each recorded eight points for USA. 

“Siedah Banks had a solid game tonight,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We will miss not having her in this building. She’s been our floor general for three years and she will be hard to replace. Brittany Rutledge also had a nice game for her last game in this building. It was one of her best games, in terms of complete play.  Shelter has been solid for us all year, even though she clearly didn’t have a good shooting number today, but she did some decent things for us defensively.  You always want to send your seniors out of their building with a win and I’m very pleased for this win today.”

Taylor Ammons led the Lady Jags on the glass with eight boards.  As a team, USA out rebounded the Owls 44-36 and held a 22-14 advantage on points in the paint.  South Alabama also pulled down 16 offensive boards, compared to 11 by Florida Atlantic.

 FAU was paced by Breana Turner’s 12 points off the bench.  Turner was 5-of-13 from the field and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. 

South Alabama did a solid job at the defensive end of the floor as it held the Owls to just 29.8 percent shooting.  FAU was just 14-of-47 from the floor.  The 40 points were a season-low for FAU and marked the sixth time this season and 71st during Pietri’s tenure that the Lady Jags have held an opponent under 50 points.

Playing in their final home game of their career, South Alabama was led offensively early on by its three seniors as the group was responsible for all 11 of the Jags points to start the contest.  Rutledge gave USA an 11-7 advantage when the Dothan, Ala., native knocked down a 15-foot pull up jumper with 12 minutes, 24 seconds remaining on the clock.

Mary Nixon later put the Lady Jags up 16-10 when the sophomore drove the left side of the lane and laid the ball off the glass.  She was fouled on the play and converted the conventional three-point play when she knocked down the free throw at the 9:15 mark. 

FAU’s Kimberly Smith ended a three-and-a-half minute offensive drought and pulled the Owls to within four (17-13) with a three-pointer from the right wing at the 7:21 mark.

With USA still holding a four-point advantage at 19-15, the Lady Jags began to extend their lead.  Lauren Walker connected from long range with just over five minutes showing on the clock, and then after a bucket from Turner, Shelter knocked down two-straight shots for the Lady Jags to stretch South Alabama’s lead out to double figures.  Shelter hit a turnaround jumper in the lane and then with two minutes, 50 seconds to go in the first half, she buried her second trey of the afternoon, this one coming from the right corner to give the Lady Jags a 27-17 lead. 

The Owls would get a pair of free throws in the final two minutes to head into the locker room trailing by eight (27-19).

After hitting four of its first 10 shots over the first 12 minutes of the game, Florida Atlantic finished the half hitting just two of its final 11 attempts from the floor and was just 6-of-21 from the field for the period for 28.6 percent.  USA was 9-for-25 from the floor for 36 percent.  South Alabama also forced 11 first-half Owl turnovers and converted them into 10 points.

“I told our team that we really needed to respond in the second half, because eight points is nothing,” Pietri said.  “I thought we wasted some opportunities at the free-throw line and on a couple of other offensive plays. If I was FAU’s locker room at halftime, I would have been pleased to be down just eight. Our team did a really nice job to come out strong in the second half. We built a lead and then we kind of got ourselves in an offensive rut. We had some decent chances that we didn’t convert, but we did as good a job as I could ask for on the defensive end. We did a solid job on their glass when they were missing. In the second half, we missed a lot of shots, but got a bunch of key rebounds to give us additional opportunities. I would have like for us to have made a few more baskets, but the defensive effort and rebounding in the second half was good.”

South Alabama came out strong to open the final 20 minutes of action.  Following an offensive put back by the Owls’ April Goins on FAU’s first possession of the half, South Alabama broke things open with a 13-2 run over the next six minutes.  USA began the scoring with a couple of second chance opportunities and Banks then drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup.  After a free throw from Ammons, Sarda Peterson drained a deep three to give South Alabama a 37-21 advantage.  Vontrice Dennis (FAU) hit a jumper in the lane to end a streak of 10 unanswered Jaguar points at the 14:30 mark of the second half, but on South Alabama’s ensuing possession, Banks found Walker open in the right corner for a trey of her own that game USA its largest lead to that point at 40-23.  During the Jag run, Florida Atlantic didn’t help its self as it missed five of its six shot opportunities and turned the ball over. 

Trailing by 17, FAU began to chip into the Jaguar advantage led by Turner, who recorded eight –straight points for the Owls, including her bucket at the 9:05 mark of the half to trim the deficit to (44-32).  A little over two minutes later, Florida Atlantic’s Terri Stamps cut the Jaguar lead to 45-35 with a break-away layup of a USA miss.

That was as close as the Owls would get though as Banks sparked another Jaguar run, this one a string of eight-straight points.  Banks would hit four free throws during the scoring spurt and Cylenthia Kennon and Ronneka Robertson would each add a basket.  Kennon’s bucket ended a six-minute streak in which USA did not record a field goal and Robertson’s basket gave South Alabama its largest lead of the game at 53-35 with less than four minutes remaining. 

Florida Atlantic recorded a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from Latavia Dempsy with just over a minute to play to cut the final margin of victory for the Lady Jags to 13.

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).