Box Score - South Alabama 66, Florida Atlantic 57 (.pdf)
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MOBILE, Ala. – In front of its largest home crowd of the season, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team jumped out to a huge second-half lead and was able to hold off a late rally by Florida Atlantic, as the Lady Jags picked up a 66-57 victory of the Owls at the Mitchell Center Wednesday morning. As part of NCAA’s “Pack the House” promotion and USA’s “School Field Trip Day” event, the Jaguars played host to the Owls in front of an announced crowd of 3,218.
“The first thing I have to do is thank Travis Toth and Lloyd Meyers for their efforts to get the audience that we had in here today," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "Today is a perfect example of how the 12th man in football and the sixth man in basketball really mean something. When Sarda Peterson hit that opening shot on the first possession, the decibel level in here was a lot different than we’re used to. To have that many screaming voices in here definitely energized our team. I think that’s why we were sensational in the first half. We were playing on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively. We took care of the ball. We only had three turnovers at halftime. We were really, really good in the first half on both ends of the floor.”
With the win, USA improves to 13-9 on the season and 6-4 in the Sun Belt. The Jaguars will now head to Bowling Green, Ky., to face Western Kentucky on Saturday. Tip-off versus the Lady Toppers is set for 4 p.m. South Alabama also now sits just a half game behind Florida Atlantic (11-9, 6-3 SBC) in the East Division.
Mansa El recorded her second 20-point game of the season with a game-high 21 points. El was 7-of-12 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 at the charity stripe, while also dishing out five assists and committing zero turnovers. Sarda Peterson also came up big for the Lady Jags offensively as she was 4-for-8 from the floor and finished with 16 points. Like El, she was also 4-for-4 at the foul line in the win. All four of her made field goals came from behind the arc.
Camille Reynolds and Veronica Cherizol chipped in with 10 and nine point, respectively off the bench.
The Owls were led by Takia Brooks’ 15 points off the bench, 12 of which coming in the second half. Brooks finished the game 4-of-9 from the floor – including a pair of treys – and 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. Chenise Miller added 13 points
Both clubs shot the ball well as USA was 23-of-50 from the field for 46.0, while FAU was 19-for-47 for 40.4 percent. The Owls were also 8-of-16 from the three-point line.
The Lady Jags did hold a 34-23 advantage on the glass. Of its 19 turnovers, 16 of USA’s miscues came in the second half.
After trading a pair of treys during the first minute-and-a-half, South Alabama grabbed to momentum and rattled off a 12-0 run over the next six-and-a-half minutes. El began the scoring with a conventional three-point play after the redshirt junior converted the bonus shot after knocking down a 10-foot jumper at the 18:17 mark. After buckets from Mary Nixon and Taylor Ammons three minutes later, El delivered a pin-point pass to Cherizol standing wide-open under the basket for a easy layup. Reynolds then drove the lane and knocked down a running one-hander with just over 12 minutes showing on the clock to out USA out in front, 15-3.
After a pair of free throws from Brooks on FAU’s next possession, El drained a pair of back-to-back treys from the top of the key – the first coming deep beyond the arc from the top of the key and the second coming with just over 10 minutes to go.
The Owls didn’t help their cause any as they began the game 1-for-10 from the field and turned the ball over eight times.
South Alabama kept the momentum over the remainder of the first period of play and extend out its lead.
FAU narrowed the deficit to as few as 15 on two occasions, the last coming with two minutes, 15 seconds remaining before the half on a three-pointer from Terri Stamps to cut it to 35-20, but USA closed out the half strong, reeling off eight points. Cherizol knocked down her third field goal of the half to begin the scoring. Then with the under a minute to go and the shot clock about to expire, Peterson drained a deep three-pointer from straight away. After a missed three-point opportunity by the Owls on the ensuing possession and time before the half winding down, El drove the left side of the floor and found Cherizol open for another bucket.
Peterson led all scorers in the first stanza with 11 points, while El and Cherizol each had nine points apiece. Cherizol was a perfect 4-of-4 in the half. As a team, South Alabama was on fire, connecting on 15 of its 30 attempts from the floor for 50 percent.
Coming out of the locker room USA looked as if it were going to cruise to victory. Led by the play of El – who had seven of the Lady Jags’ first nine points of the half – South Alabama was able to stretch its lead out to as much as 24 (49-25) after a trey from the right wing from El at the 15:44 mark.
With the big lead though, USA began to get sloppy at the offensive end of the floor and turned the ball over on each its next three possessions. Florida Atlantic took advantage of the Jaguar miscues hitting three-consecutive three-pointers – two from Brooks and one from Kimberly Smith. Smith’s trey from the left corner with 14 minutes, three seconds remaining in the period trimmed South Alabama’s lead to 15 (51-36).
Turnovers would continue to be a problem for USA in the second half as the Jaguars, who had turned the ball over just three times during the first 20 minutes of action, committed 16 in the second period of play.
Later in the half, South Alabama looked as if it had regained the momentum when Peterson drained her fourth trey of the afternoon, this one from the left corner with less than eight minutes to go on the clock to push USA’s lead out to 59-42, but aided by four more Jaguar turnovers, the Owls would draw closer after rattling off 10 unanswered points in just a minute-and-a-half. April Goiins – who had been limited in the first half due to foul trouble – began and ended the 10-0 run for FAU with a pair of buckets. Her layup at the 6:02 mark cut South Alabama’s lead to 59-51.
A minute later El came up with another big basket as she was able to break the FAU press and converted an old-fashioned three-point play, but the Owls kept battling and getting as close as seven (62-55) after a pair of free throws from Miller with just over two to play.
FAU would not be able to draw any closer the rest of the way though as South Alabama was able to keep a late possession alive with a pair of offensive rebounds and extend the possession. With under a minute to play, FAU fouled Peterson and the senior calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both her attempts. After an empty possession on the Owls next trip down the court, El hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory with 35 seconds to go.
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 9-4 in the all-time series and have now won the last three meetings. USA is now 6-1 versus the Owls in Mobile. The 42 points scored in the first half by the Lady Jags were the most scored against a SBC opponent this season. The previous high had been 35 recorded at Louisiana-Lafayette (Jan. 11). They were also the most against an opponent since USA recorded 50 against Spring Hill (Dec. 7) earlier this season. South Alabama has now led at the intermission in seven of its 10 Sun Belt games. With her 21 points, Mansa El has now recorded double figures in 14 of her last 20 games and five of her last six. The three rebounds by Taylor Ammons were the fewest by the senior in a Sun Belt game this season and the fewest since she recorded two at Mississippi State (Nov. 30). She entered the game averaging 10.6 rpg in conference action. The crowd of 3,218 was a season-best for the Lady Jags at the Mitchell Center.
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