Box Score - South Alabama 69, North Texas 60 (.pdf)

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MOBILE, Ala. – Behind a pair of career-high performances from Mary Nixon and Veronica Cherizol, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team picked up its first Sun Belt Conference victory Wednesday evening as the Lady Jags defeated West Division leader North Texas, 69-60, at the Mitchell Center.

Nixon ended the night with a career-best 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while also pulling down six rebounds in 31 minutes of action.  Cherizol was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for the Lady Jags for a career-high 10 points..  Mansa El (11) and Sarda Peterson (10) also finished in double digits in the victory.

As a team, South Alabama shot 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the floor – its second-best shooting performance of the season.

“I’m really proud of our team,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “We’ve been struggling on the road and tonight we played the most complete game, in terms of two halves, against a quality opponent, that we have all year. We’d had some great halves, but this is the most complete game we’ve played all year against a team who came in here 9-6 and 2-0 in the league, has wins over Oregon State and Alabama. I’m exceptionally proud of our team, the effort they put in and the sustained concentration. We had one set of defensive breakdowns midway through the second half and we gave up some easy transition baskets and broke down a little bit, but other than that segment of time, I thought we responded very well.”

USA (8-6, 1-1 SBC) will now host Denver on Saturday in its second televised game of the season on the Sun Belt Network. Tip-off versus the Pioneers is set for 1 p.m.  The loss for the Mean Green was their first conference defeat as they drop to 9-7 on the season and 2-1 in the Sun Belt.

North Texas placed two players in double figures, led by Ash’Lynne Evans’ 17 points – her third-straight game in double digits.  Evans was 8-of-14 from the floor in 24 minutes of play.  Preseason second team all-SBC selection battled a knee injury and chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds on 5-of-10 shooting off the bench.

USA was able to force 24 North Texas turnovers and tied a season-high with 11 steals.  The Lady Jags also had 11 steals in their triple overtime season-opening victory over Central Florida (Nov. 12).

The Lady Jags used the three-point shot early on as three of their first four field goals were from long range – two coming from Peterson.  

After North Texas had trimmed the early deficit to two (8-6) after buckets from Evans and Hudson, El’s trey from the top of the key with just under 16 minutes to go in the period gave USA an 11-6 advantage and ignited a 9-2 Jaguar run over the next six minutes.  Reynolds capped off the scoring to give South Alabama a nine-point lead (17-8) at the 9:54 mark.

North Texas answered back and cut the Jaguar advantage to 19-14 with just over six minutes remaining in the opening period of play on a bucket by Evans.  Evans led UNT with eight first-half points on 4-of-8 shooting.  

On South Alabama’s ensuing possession though, Reynolds knocked down her second jumper of the half and began a string of six-straight points to extend the Jaguar lead to 11 (25-14), their largest of the half.  During the mini run, Nixon added a layup, while Kennon dropped in a basket of her own on an up-and-under move in the post at the 4:01 mark.  

Over the remainder of the first period, North Texas was able to only get as close as seven on two occasions, the last coming with just over a minute showing on the clock after another Evans jumper, but El drove towards the basket on South Alabama’s next possession and was fouled.  The former Mean Green player laid the ball off the glass and knocked down the free throw to convert the conventional three-point play and put USA back up double figures at 30-20.  The Lady Jags would head into the locker room leading 32-22 for just their third lead at the intermission this season.  


Mary Nixon provided the offense for the Lady Jags during the first six minutes of the second half – recording seven of USA’s first nine points.  Following a bucket from El, Nixon recorded seven-straight points, including a old-fashioned three-point play to increase South Alabama’s lead to 41-28 at the 13:51 mark of the period.  

With USA still holding a 13-point advantage three-and-a-half minutes later after a baseline jumper from Reynolds, the Mean Green began to chip away at the South Alabama lead.  Evans’ basket with just over 11 minutes to go in the game ignited an 11-4 run for North Texas,  Sara Stanley later capped off the scoring  and pulled UNT to within six at 49-43 with eight minutes 41 seconds remaining.  

Cherizol –filling in for Ammons who had left the game earlier in the half after sustaining a cut over her right eye – kept the Lady Jags in it as she posted eight of her career-high 10 points for USA over a four minute stretch.

After North Texas has narrowed the Jaguar lead to six, Cherizol ended the run came up huge for the Jaguars with two-straight buckets.  The Miami, Fla., with USA pressing on the inbounds, native intercepted in the pain and laid the ball off the glass.  On South Alabama’s next possession, she grabbed the offensive rebound and laid the ball back off the glass to stretch the lead back to double digits.   

At the 7:11 mark, Desiree Nelson knocked down the Mean Green’s first three-pointer of the game from the left corner to trim the deficit back to 53-47, but Nixon came back with two more baskets to end the threat and Mansa El’s layup with just under five minutes left to give USA an 11-point advantage (59-48).  Prior to Nelson’s trey, North Texas had missed its previous eight attempts from beyond the arc.  UNT finished the contest just 2-of-15 from three for 13.3 percent.

Despite missing five of its final six foul shots, the Lady Jags defense was able to hold on and preserve the nine-point victory.  North Texas was able to bring the final margin of defeat under double figures on a three-pointer from Tamara Torru.  Torru had entered the game averaging 12.6 points per game – second-best on the club – and shooting 40.9 percent from beyond the arc.  However, the senior was held to five points and just 1-of-6 shooting from the three-point line.  

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: With the win, South Alabama improves to 7-13 all-time in the series and 7-12 under head coach Rick Pietri.  USA has now won four-straight in the series in Mobile.   The win also snapped a three-game skid for USA.  The 17 points by Mary Nixon was a new career-best, eclipsing her previous high of 12 set versus Central Florida (Nov. 12).  The 10 points by Veronica Cherizol was a new career-high, eclipsing her previous high of eight, set twice, most recently versus Spring Hill (Dec. 7).The 10-point lead at the half marked the third time this season that USA has led at the intermission and the second-straight game.  The 42.3 first-half shooting percentage for South Alabama was the highest for the Lady Jags since shooting 55.6 versus Spring Hill (Dec.. 7).  The 45.6 percent shooting for the game was the second-highest percentage for the Jaguars this season.  UNT’s leading scorer and rebounder, Jasmine Godbolt played 16 minutes off the bench with a knee injury.  South Alabama tied a season-high with 11 steals.  The Lady Jags also had 11 steals in their triple overtime season-opening victory over Central Florida (Nov. 12).  With her two three-pointers, senior guard Sarda Peterson now has 1139 for her career.  The eight three-point attempts by South Alabama was a season-low.  The previous low had been 14 versus Utah back on Nov. 26.  The eight three-point attempts were the fewest by a Lady Jag team since shooting just seven against Long Island (Nov. 25, 2006) at the LIU Thanksgiving Classic.

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