Box Score - South Alabama 63, Southern 41 (.pdf)
BATON ROUGE, La. – Playing without two starters due to injury, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team remained undefeated with a 63-41 victory over Southern Tuesday evening at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.
Mary Nixon (concussion) – the clubs leading scorer – and fellow senior guard Camille Reynolds (concussion/broken nose) each missed the game versus Southern after sustaining injuries at the end of practice on Monday.
USA (4-0) will continue its two-week road trip with a pair of games at the Radisson Hotel Chatworth Thanksgiving Basketball Classic hosted by Cal State Northridge (Nov. 23-24). The Lady Jags will open up with the tournament host, Cal State Northridge on Friday with tip off set for 7 p.m. (CT) at the Matadome.
The 4-0 start is just the fifth time in the program’s history and is tied with the 2008-09, 2007-08 and 1982-83 teams for second-best start to a season.
The Lady Jags placed three in double figures led by Meghan Dunn’s season-best 16 points. Dunn was 5-of-9 in the contest, all coming from long range, while also chipping in with five rebounds and a team-high three steals.
“I liked the way we responded tonight, because we were short-handed,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “Mary and Camille suffered a freak injury in practice yesterday and we just had a bunch of different players rise to the occasion. We started sluggish early, but Meghan Dunn kind of got us on track. She hit a few threes and it opened it up a bit for us on the offensive end. I thought we were pretty good defensively in both halves. We didn’t get to the (free throw) line in the first half, but in the second half, I thought we were more aggressive to the basket. I didn’t like our percentage (7-of-14), but at least we were attacking and were more aggressive in the second half. It was a good team win.”
Freshman point guards Diamonisha Sophus and Brittany Webb also ended the night in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively – both season-highs for the pair. Sophus was nearly perfect, hitting five of her six attempts, and had three rebounds, three assists and two steals of her own. Webb was 4-of-8 from the field.
“It’s great for us to have those two kids to run the point for us because they give us a different look, which can keep a defense off balance,” Pietri said of the two freshmen point guards. “(Diamonisha) Sophus had some weak spots, but she had some really good strong spots too. I thought Sophus did a great job of handling the pressure at times. Every once in a while she gets a little outside the zone where I want her to be and that can lead to some problems, but for the most part, she made some good decisions tonight and made some plays at the basket. She was solid for the most part defensively.”
“Brittany had an up-and-down game. She had some really good moments and struggled at times, but the thing I liked about her, was that after she made some mistakes and came back in the game, she made some plays and some good decisions in the second half. I have complete confidence that Brittany is going to be a tremendous contributor for us over the course of her career her. She responded well tonight.”
Ronneka Robertson, Mansa El and Jennifer Johnson each added seven points for USA.
Southern (0-3) was led by Lechell Rush’s double-double 12 points and 12 rebounds. She was 6-for-12 from the floor in the loss. Adrian Sanders also chipped in with 10 points of her own.
USA was 23-of-60 from the field for 38.3 percent shooting and held the Jaguars to 29.1 percent (16-of-55). Led by Dunn, South Alabama also had a season-high 10 three-pointers. The Lady Jags forced 20 turnovers and held a 25-11 advantage in the points off turnovers category. The USA bench also outscored the Southern reserves 27-10.
South Alabama came out cold from the floor in the early going, connecting on just one of its first 10 attempts from the floor. Despite the offensive struggles, the defense kept the Lady Jags in it as the forced eight turnovers in the first eight minutes and13 for the half.
With Southern holding a 4-2 advantage, Dunn sparked a run of seven-straight points when the junior knocked down one of her four three-pointers in the period. Sophus then registered a pair of layups of two-straight turnovers by SU.
Lanesha Stephens ended a five minute scoreless streak for Southern with a 12-foot baseline jumper at the 10:24 mark. The bucket by Stephens also began a 9-2 run for the Jaguars over the next four minutes and Rush gave SU a two-point advantage (13-11) with just under seven minutes to go in the half.
That’s when Dunn took over for the Lady Jags, draining back-to-back-to-back treys on USA’s next three possessions to put South Alabama back out in front, 20-13 with just under four to go.
USA headed into the locker room with a nine-point lead, 24-15. Both teams struggled on offense during the first 20 minutes of action as Southern was 7-for-25 for 28 percent and turned the ball over 13 times. South Alabama was 9-for-33 for 27.3 percent.
Coming out of the intermission, Southern pulled to within eight on a couple of occasions, the last coming on a jumper from Sanders less than two minutes into the second half, but that was as close as the Jaguars would get.
After each team came up empty on their next trip down the court, Cherizol found Sophus open in the right corner for a three-pointer at the 17:30 mark. Sophus’ ignited an 18-2 run for South Alabama over the next three minutes and was one of four for the Lady Jags during the scoring run. El and Dunn added a three-pointer apiece on USA’s next two possessions and after layups from Robertson and Sophus, Johnson capped off the Jaguar run and gave South Alabama a 42-20 lead with 14 minutes, 44 seconds to go in the contest.
Southern got as close as 15 (47-32) on another Sanders jumper with 10 minutes, 20 seconds to go, but Webb knocked down a three-pointer of her own and El hit both of her attempts at the charity striped to extend the lead back out to 20. From there, the Lady Jags held control and picked up the 22-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).
NOTES: Mary Nixon (concussion) and fellow senior guard Camille Reynolds (concussion/broken nose) missed the game versus Southern after sustaining injuries in a collision at the end of practice on Monday. With the win, South Alabama improves to 14-3 in the all-time series and 5-3 in games played in Baton Rouge. Pietri is now 11-2 versus Southern in the series. USA is also 59-16 against current SWAC members, while Pietri is 18-4 against the league. South Alabama is now 3-3 in games played on Nov. 20 and 3-1 in those outings under Pietri. The 16 points by Meghan Dunn were a new season-best for the junior guard. The five three-pointers were also a career-high for Dunn. The 10 treys by the Lady Jags were a new season-best for the club. Freshmen point guards Sophus and Brittany Webb also ended the night in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively – both season-highs for the pair. The 4-0 start is just the fifth time in the program’s history and is tied with the 2008-09, 2007-08 and 1982-83 teams for second-best start to a season.
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