Box Score - South Alabama 57, Denver 51 (.pdf)

Post Game Quotes

Photo Gallery

MOBILE, Ala. – With less than two minutes to play, Camille Reynolds’ late baskets helped the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team capture a 57-51 victory over West Division co-leader Denver at the Mitchell Center and improve to 2-1 in the Sun Belt.

“Camille is just a winner. She struggled on the road in December, but these last two games she has made some plays,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “This was the fourth game (this season) that she’s made a big play late for us to either get the win or preserve the win. She is clearly not afraid of pressure situations.”

Reynolds led the Lady Jags with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, recording nine of her points in the second half.  Over the final minute-and-a-half, the junior from Rathdrum, Idaho had six of USA’s final nine points and came up key steal late.  

USA (9-6, 2-1 SBC) will now head out on the road for a pair of games, beginning with Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday evening. Tip-off versus the Ragin’ Cajuns is set for 7 p.m.  The Pioneers fall to 10-8 and 2-2 in the conference with the loss.  

“This is a great win for us, since they were the preseason pick to win the other division,” Pietri said.  “It’s a good win for us, because our luck against them in the past three years hasn’t been great.  It’s good for us to finally break through and win one against this team, which we have battled down to the last possession with for three out of four years now. (DU head coach) Erik Johnson does a great job to put that team in a good position to be successful. I liked our effort in the beginning of the game, but it was a focus-less effort.  We battled back to get back to two points before the half. After the half, they battled back and took the lead and we had a funky look on our faces in a media timeout midway through the half. I thought our kids really turned it around with defensive pressure - it distracted them and put us in a position to work offensively.”

Sarda Peterson and Mary Nixon also ended the afternoon in double-figures with 11 points apiece.  Led by Taylor Ammons’ nine rebounds, South Alabama held a 37-31 advantage on the glass.  Nixon also chipped in with seven boards of her own.  After being outrebounded by three in the first period of play, rebounding was one of the key stats during the final 20 minutes of action, as USA held a 23-14 advantage on the glass.  

The Pioneers placed two players in double figures paced by Kaetlyn Murdoch’s game-high 19 points.  Murdoch was 9-of-14 from the floor for DU and also pulled down seven rebounds.  Emiko Smith also finished the game in double digits with 14 points and six assists, playing the full 40 minutes.

Denver was 19-of-43 from the floor for 44.2 percent, while USA connected on 20 of its 58 field goal opportunities for 34.5 percent shooting.   

Murdoch – the league’s preseason co-player of the year – provided the scoring early on for the Pioneers as she dropped in nine of DU’s first 14 points, hitting four of her first five shots from the field.  Led by the play of Murdock, Denver was able to jump out to a quick 14-6 lead with 13 minutes 20 seconds to go on the half.  However, on Murdoch’s bucket to give DU the eight-point advantage, the senior injured her right knee.  She would sit out the next four minutes, before attempting to return.  

Following Murdoch’s injury, Smith drained a three-pointer from the right with to stretch the lead out to 17-7 with 11:38 showing on the clock.  
 
After opening the game hitting just two of its first 12 shots, USA was able to use a mini-run over the next two minutes and scored six of the next eight points to pull within six at 19-13.  Mary Nixon capped off the scoring with a driving layup with nine minutes, 16 seconds to go in the first half.  

Murdoch re-entered the game less than a minute later and recorded another bucket, but she was still affected by the injured knee and didn’t play much the remainder of the half.

Following Murdoch’s bucket at the 7:38 mark, USA tighten its defense and would go on to hold the Pioneers scoreless for the rest of the period.  Denver missed its final five shot attempts and turned the ball over six times during that stretch.

Riding its defense, South Alabama kept battling and scored six-unanswered points to close the half and narrow the deficit to just two at the intermission.  Reynolds knocked down a pull up jumper at the foul line to begin the scoring and then after a basket from Cylenthia Kennon, Ammons grabbed an offensive rebound and laid the ball back in the basket with under a minute to play to trim Denver’s lead to 21-19.

Coming out of the locker room, Murdoch began the second half like she did the first, hitting a turnaround jumper on Denver’s first possession.

Peterson answered the basket with a trey from the left corner on USA’s ensuing possession to cut the deficit to one (23-22) less than a minute into the second half.

Denver was able to extend its lead out to 31-27 after another layup from Murdoch at the 13:16 mark, but USA once again kept battling and was able to tie the contest back up at 33-33 using the long-range shot.  Reynolds knocked down a trey from the right wing with just over 13 minutes to go and then following a Pioneer basket, Veronica Cherizol knocked one down from the opposite wing to knot things up.

After a defensive stop at the other end f the floor, USA took its first lead of the afternoon at the 11:27 mark on a pair of free throws from Nixon.  

The lead was short-lived for the Lady Jags though as Smith answered with a pair of free throws on Denver’s ensuing possession.  

Jordan Johnston knocked down a jumper at the elbow to put DU back out in front on the Pioneer’s next possession and Smith then threaded the needle on a pass to Murdoch on a pick-and-roll play , giving Denver a 39-35 advantage with just over nine minutes remaining.  

With Denver still holding a four-point lead (41-37) with just over seven minutes to go after a pair of free throws from Johnston, South Alabama began to rally again.  Nixon drove the lane on the Lady Jags’ next trip down the court for a layup that ignited a 9-3 run over the next three minutes.  Following Nixon’s basket, Peterson drained her third three-pointer of the afternoon, this one from the top of the key at the 6:04 mark.  After a basket from Mansa El stretched South Alabama’s lead out to three, Smith again came up with the big bucket as she connected from long distance on the right side of the floor with just under five to play.

The Smith trey was the lone points during the run for the Pioneers.  After a free throw apiece from El and Ammons, Reynolds stole the ball from Smith and on the fast break, Nixon threw over the Denver defense and found Ammons open for a layup to give USA a 48-44 lead with three minutes, 41 seconds showing on the clock.

Denver quickly tied the game back up after a pair of free throws from Smith and a basket in the paint from Maiya Michel at the 1:44 mark, but that is when Reynolds stepped up and came up with her clutch baskets.  Reynolds’ first basket came when she drove the right side of the floor and hit a 12-foot pull up jumper along the baseline.  On the next possession, Reynolds came off a screen around the free throw line and banked in a 14-footer with 46 seconds to play.   USA remained solid on defense on Denver’s next possession and recorded a stop.  With the Pioneers forced to foul, the Lady Jags knocked down four of their five attempts at the charity stripe to seal the victory.  DU’s Morgan Van Riper-Rose hit a trey with four seconds left, but the Lady Jags  went on to take the six-point win.

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 7-16 in the all-time series with Denver.  The victory also snaps a four-game skid in the series to the Pioneers, marking the first win for USA since a 48-40 win over DU in Mobile during the 2007-08 season.  Of the last 14 meetings in the series, 12 have been decided by single digits.  The win also marked South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri’s first over Denver’s Erik Johnson.  Lauren Walker left the game with a dislocated thumb on her shooting hand in the first half and her status is still to be determined.  With the two-point deficit at the half, South Alabama has now trailed in 12 of its 15 games this season.  With her 11 points, Mary Nixon has now recorded back-to-back double figure games in her career.  She had 17 points versus North Texas on Wednesday.  The win was also the 195th overall and 94th Sun Belt Conference victory of Pietri’s career.  USA is 7-0 at the Mitchell Center this season.  The Lady Jags are also 150-41 overall and 94-18 at the Mitchell Center when holding opponents to 60 points or less under Pietri.  With her three three-pointers versus Denver, Sarda Peterson moves up to 141 for  her career.  She is five behind Shakira Nettles for second on the program’s career chart.

-- USA --