Game 15 - Denver Game Notes (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – After evening its league record with a win two nights ago, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team will welcome Denver Saturday afternoon for its second televised game in a week.

Tip-off between the Lady Jags and the Pioneers is set for 1 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.  Live stats and web streaming for the contest can be accessed at www.usajaguars.com.  The game will be broadcast on the Sun Belt Network and can be seen live over the web on ESPN3.com.  The televised broadcast will be tape-delayed and aired on Sunday (Jan. 8) at Noon.

South Alabama enters the televised tilt versus the Pioneers with an 8-6 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the Sun Belt.  USA picked up its first league-win and evened its SBC record on Wednesday with a 69-60 victory over North Texas.

“You learn in defeat and you learn in victory.  Hopefully, we learned in our victory over North Texas the importance of sustained intensity and effort,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “In some of our previous games, we’ve had superb pockets of effort and concentration, but it hasn’t been sustained.  I thought we sustained it as well as we have done all season in the North Texas game.  Hopefully, we can learn from that and bring that same sustained concentration level and effort against Denver.”

The Lady Jags placed four players in double figures led by a couple of career-high efforts from Mary Nixon and Veronica Cherizol.  Nixon led the way with a career-best 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while Cherizol was a perfect 5-for-5 for a career-best 10 points off the bench.

As a team, USA - which had entered the Sun Belt home opener ranked last in the league in field goal percentage - had its most complete shooting effort against the Mean Green.  The Lady Jags were 26-of-57 from the floor for 45.6 percent and shot over 40 percent in each half (42.3 percent in the first and 48.4 percent in the second).

South Alabama continues to be led offensively by Mansa El.  The redshirt junior guard recorded 11 points versus UNT, giving her ninth double-figure scoring game in her last 12 outings.  El currently ranks 16th in the league in scoring with 11.1 points per outing. She also is one of the top free-throw shooters, hitting 78.0 percent of her attempts at the charity stripe.  

Camille Reynolds is also averaging double digits off the bench, coming into the game at 10.6 ppg. She has also knocked down 37.5 percent of her attempts from beyond the arc - fourth-best in the SBC.

As a team, South Alabama leads the Sun Belt in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, turnover margin, while ranking second in three-pointers per game.

With its win versus Arkansas State on Wednesday, Denver moved into a three-way tie for first place in the SBC’s West Division with North Texas and Louisiana-Monroe.  The Pioneers are 10-7 on the season and 2-1 in league play.  

After leading by just one at the intermission versus the Red Wolves, Denver opened the second half on a 15-2 run to extend out its lead.  ASU was able to get as close as four, but solid free throw shooting and great ball control helped the Pioneers escape with the victory.

“With Denver, you get the preseason player of the year in our league (Katelyn Murdoch),” Pietri said.  “She is as good as if not the best post player in our conference.  You also get a great point guard in Emiko Smith.  You get excellent players surrounding them and Erik Johnson does a fine job coaching and preparing his team.  We know that we are in for a major battle against a team that was picked to win the West Division in the preseason, so we will have to meet that challenge the best that we can.”

Preseason Sun Belt Conference co-Player of the Year Kaetlyn Murdoch led the way in the victory with a game-high 23 points.  Murdoch is second in the conference in scoring and field goal percentage.  The Temple, Texas native is the lone Pioneer in double figures with 17.9 points per outing.  She is also connecting on 54.3 percent of her field goal opportunities.  Murdoch is also tied for fourth in the SBC with Louisiana-Monroe’s Larrie Williams in blocks, averaging 1.4 per game.

Fellow preseason all-conference selection Emiko Smith has been solid directing the Pioneer offense.  She not only leads the Sun Belt with 6.4 assists per game, but also ranks ninth nationally in that same category.  Her 1.5 assist-turnover ratio is also tops amongst league point guards.  

In her last outing, Smith registered eight points and eight assists versus the Red Wolves.  She can also be a scorer for Denver as in her first two conference games, Smith averaged 16.0 ppg.  Led by the play of Smith, DU is tied for first with Florida International in assists and second in assist-turnover ratio.  

As a team, DU is knocking down 40.5 percent of its field goal attempts, which ranks third amongst the league.  The Pioneers are also second in the Sun Belt in three-point shooting, hitting 31.3 percent of their attempts from long-range.    

Saturday’s trip to USA will mark the final game for the Pioneers in the Mitchell Center as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.  Following this season, DU will be moving to the Western Athletic Conference.

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 Denver will be the 23rd in the all-time series.  Denver holds a 16-6 advantage in the series, including an 8-2 mark in 6-4 against the Jags.  Under Pietri, USA is 5-4 in the series in games played in Mobile.  The Pioneers have won four straight and six of the last seven in the series, including a 63-43 decision in Denver last season.  South Alabama’s last win versus the Pioneers came back during the 2007-08 season a 48-40 victory in Mobile.  Despite the 20-point margin of victory for DU in the last meeting, the series has been relatively close the last 13 meetings as 11 have been decided by single digits, with seven by four points or less.  Three of those games have also had to go into extra time.  The meeting between Pietri and Denver head coach Erik Johnson will be the fifth between the two coaches.   Johnson has won each of the previous four meetings, but three of the four have either been decided by three-points or gone into overtime.  All four meetings have come at the two coaches’ current schools.

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