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MOBILE, Ala. – First-year University of South Alabama women's basketball head coach Terry Fowler and the rest of the Jaguar squad officially opened fall practice on Monday with their first team practice and the new Jaguar coach was pleased overall with what he saw out of the group on the opening day.
"It's just great to get out here on the first day and have all our young ladies together," Fowler said. "With the new NCAA rules allowing us extra days of practice, we're excited about that. I thought our energy level was really good, especially early on in practice. We're just going to have to continue to be consistent in our effort, attitude and focus. The execution will come later. "
The Jaguars practiced for two-and-a-half hours in the Striplin Practice Facility and will return to the court Wednesday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. USA is also scheduled to practice on Friday and Saturday this week.
Over the course of the next six weeks, South Alabama will have 30 practice sessions leading up to the season opener at Indiana State on Saturday Nov. 9. USA will face Mobile in an exhibition contest a week prior to the match up with the Sycamores.
USA welcomes back eight letterwinners from last season. Among the list of returners are seniors Ronneka Robertson and Meghan Dunn. Robertson led the club on the glass with 7.2 rebounds per outing, which ranked seventh in the Sun Belt. The Kentwood, La., also ranked seventh in league in defensive rebounding (4.6) and ninth in offensive rebounding (2.6) during the 2012-13 season. Dunn was the top long-range threat for the Jags a year ago as she paced he team with 45 three-pointers, knocking down 32.4 percent of her three-point attempts – 11th in the Sun Belt. She was also tied for sixth in the Sun Belt in three-pointers per game with 1.5.
There was one other returning player that has stood out to Fowler throughout individuals and Monday's practice.
"Rachel Cumbo has been great," Fowler stated. "She's really just been unbelievable. We're changing her because of our lack of depth and lack of size. She's playing the three spot and then some four for us, so she's got to learn an awful lot of information to play both of those positions. She's really stood out with her attitude and her effort everyday and it's been great to have her."
Fowler began the practice session covering many aspects that the players had worked on during their individual work outs over the summer, which allowed the Jags to move into several new concepts.
"We've been doing a lot of fundamental things in our individual work outs," Fowler stated. "Today, we got through a lot of team stuff at them. We kind of just through it on the wall and gave them a lot of information. We'll come back here in the next couple of practices and start cleaning things up, so the players will get a better understanding of what's going on.
"Right now, we just got to concentrate on being the best team we can be everyday and make sure we get stronger and stronger as a team individually and build relationships. If we can do those two things consistently, the results will take care of themselves."
After working on fundamentals during the first part of practice, the focus turned to defense, something that Fowler places high importance on.
"(Defense) is our bread-and-butter," Fowler said. "You come in and watch us play and you're going to see a team that really guards and plays tough defense. That's the first part of our practice. The emphasis is always on defense. That's what we do. That's our staple."
During the defensive portion of practice, the Jaguars went through a number of defensive drills and worked on defending down and ball screens.
Following the defensive portion of practice, South Alabama moved on to offense where the Jags began installing their motion offense, working on technique and transitioning into it. USA also spent some time with both the guards and post players working on shooting.
The Jaguars closed out the first practice day with a conditioning session.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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