Box Score - Arkansas State 72, South Alabama 61 (.pdf)
JONESBORO, Ark. – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a first-half run by Arkansas State and early turnovers as the Lady Jags dropped a 72-61 Sun Belt road decision to the West Division-leading Red Wolves Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
“Our defensive effort (tonight) was bad,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “You have to give credit to Arkansas State. They did a nice job early on attacking how we guard. They got some clean looks perimeter and they made them. We had to adjust how we were guarding, and we did a reasonable job of adjusting. Arkansas State’s energy level was just better than ours. We had pockets of time where we had excellent energy, but it just wasn’t sustained. (ASU) is playing well right now and playing with a lot of confidence.”
ASU (12-8, 9-3 SBC) – which picked up its seventh-straight win – opened up the game by hitting seven of its first nine shots and forced the Lady Jags into 11 turnovers in the first 11 minutes of the contest.
USA (12-9, 5-7 SBC) will continue its road trip on Saturday when the Lady Jags travel to Little Rock, Ark., to take on UALR. Tip-off versus the Trojans is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Jaguars placed three players in double figures in the loss, led by Mary Nixon and Megan Dunn – who each had 16 points apiece. Nixon was 7-of-12 from the field and tied for team honors with six rebounds. The senior also had five of South Alabama’s eight steals. Dunn was 6-for-13 from the field and connected on four of the six attempts from the three-point line.
As a team, South Alabama was 7-of-18 from the arc for 38.9 percent. USA also hit 25 of its 60 shot attempts for 41.7 percent – its best field-goal percentage since shooting 42.4 percent at Central Florida back on Dec. 19.
In her first collegiate start, freshman post player Brianna Wright had 12 points and six rebounds on 5-of-13 shooting.
The Red Wolves were led by Hanna Qedan’s 16 points. Qedan was 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Quinisha McDowell had 14 points and was 5-of-6 from the floor, while Ashley Olvera and Jalen O’Bannon added 11 points each. Olvera had three treys in the game as ASU was 8-for-16 as a team from the arc.
Olvera and McDowell also led all players with five assists each. The Red Wolves also finished the contest with 12 steals.
ASU finished the game 26-of-47 from the floor for 55.3 percent. The shooting percentage by the Red Wolves was the best by a Jaguar opponent this season. Arkansas State was also 13-for-22 in the second half for 59.1 percent.
Arkansas State came out of the gate on fire from the offensive end, knocking down seven of their first nine shots from the floor, en route to jumping out to a 17-2 advantage a little over five minutes into the game. The Red Wolves not only scored inside the arc, but were on fire from deep, hitting their first four attempts from beyond the three-point line.
Qedan sparked the ASU offense as the sophomore recorded seven of the Red Wolves’ first 17 points. Qedan would go on to record 11 in the half on 4-of-6 shooting.
ASU’s defense also helped the host as they caused 13 first-half USA turnovers – 11 of which coming in the first 11 minutes of the game. Arkansas State finished the first half with 12 points off the Lady Jag miscues.
Early on, Dunn was the lone bright spot on offense for the Jaguars as she recorded nine of the club’s first 11 points – all coming from beyond the arc. She would finish with 11 in the half.
Arkansas State led by as much as 16 (21-5) in the opening half, but South Alabama would continue to fight back and chip away.
The Red Wolves led comfortably, 36-21 with under two minutes to go before the half, but South Alabama came right back and rattled off a 7-0 spurt over the next minute to trim the deficit to single digits. Brittany Webb began the run with a trey and then after a 14-foot jumper from Wright – who had eight first-half points – Dunn stole the ball and went the length of the court for a lay up to cut the ASU lead to 36-28.
O’Bannon knocked down a short jumper on the Red Wolves’ ensuing possession, which sent ASU into the locker room with a 38-28 advantage.
Both clubs shot well in the first half as ASU shot 52 percent and the Lady Jags shot 45.8 percent.
Coming out of the intermission, South Alabama quickly trimmed the deficit to six just a minute-and-a-half into the second stanza. Dunn drove the left side for a layup on USA first possession. Wright then knocked down a turnaround jumper in the lane at the 18:33 mark to cut the ASU lead to 38-32.
Over the next couple of minutes, Arkansas State would not allow the Lady Jags to get under that mark as on two straight possessions, the Red Wolves would answer with a three – one coming from Jane Morrill and the other coming from Olvera.
With just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, Dunn knocked down one of her four three-pointers to trim the ASU lead to 50-42, but over the next minute-and-a-half, Arkansas State gained some breathing room and pushed its advantage back out to 18 (60-42) with a 10-0 run. Olvera began the run with a trey and Sandy Jackson – who had made just two three-pointers coming into the game – knocked down a long range attempt from the right corner to cap off the scoring for the Red Wolves.
South Alabama trailed by 19 (68-49) with under five to go, but made one last attempt at a comeback as the Lady Jags reeled off a 12-2 spurt to pull within nine with 29 seconds remaining. That was as close as USA would get though as, ASU went on to take the 11-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: With the loss, South Alabama falls to 9-29 in the all-time series versus Arkansas State and 2-13 in Jonesboro. ASU is now 9-3 and 6-1 in Sun Belt play at the Convocation Center this season. USA – which led the Sun Belt in scoring defense entering the week – allowed 72 points to the Red Wolves, which were the most allowed to a SBC opponent this season. The 61 points by the Lady Jags tied for the most points scored by South Alabama in a league game this season. USA also scored 61 points versus Louisiana-Monroe on Jan. 16. USA’s Brianna Wright made her first collegiate start versus Arkansas State. The five steals by Mary Nixon were a new career-high for the senior. The 41.7 field-goal percentage by South Alabama versus ASU was the team’s best field-goal percentage since shooting 42.4 percent at Central Florida back on Dec. 19. The 55.3 field-goal percentage by Arkansas State was the most allowed to a Jaguar opponent this season.
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