Box Score - Louisiana-Lafayette 65, South Alabama 60 (.pdf)
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MOBILE, Ala. – Louisiana-Lafayette's defensive pressure forced the University of South Alabama women's basketball team to commit a season-high 30 turnovers Wednesday night as the Jaguars suffered their first home conference loss of the season, 65-60 at the Mitchell Center.
"That was unacceptable," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said of the 30 turnovers. "We have to do better. We knew what they were going to do. I think it's going to be the same story as we go look at film. We're not set up into our press attack that we need to. Fatigue is playing a role in that because we're not getting people into the spots and not making the cuts hard enough. We start making adjustments and trying to change and there are things that we work on sometimes and we have to want the basketball. Then be tough and hard and strong with it in order to give ourselves a chance. And all we need is one player to step up and take care of it and say 'The press is off. Give me the ball.'"
ULL (10-5, 3-1 SBC) – who entered the week leading the Sun Belt in both turnover margin and steals – also posted nine steals versus the Jags and recorded 27 points off the South Alabama miscues.
The loss to the Ragin' Cajuns snapped a 10-game win streak for the Jaguars in the series and was Louisiana-Lafayette's first win since Jan. 17, 2007.
USA (4-11, 2-3 SBC) will now host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday on the Sun Belt Network. Tip-off versus the Warhawks is set for 5 p.m.
South Alabama placed three players in double figures on the night, led by Ronneka Robertson and Breanna Hall's 15 points each. Robertson was 7-of-10 from the field and also paced the club with nine rebounds, while Hall was 4-of-10 from the field, including three treys, and hit all four of her free-throw attempts. The 15 points were also a new career-high for the junior guard.
Rachel Cumbo also added 14 points in the loss. The ULL defense which was tied with the Jaguars for second-place in the SBC in three-point defense held USA to just 6-of-19 shooting from the outside (31.6) and Cumbo, the league leader to just 2-of-7 shooting.
Cumbo was also 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, but outside of Hall and Robertson, USA was just 2-of-10 at the foul line and shot 60 percent in its 20 attempts.
Louisiana-Lafayette got to the foul line 11 more times than the Jags and hit 18 of its 31 attempts. Brooklyn Arceneaux paced the club with a career-high 19 points as she was 6-of-11 from the field and 7-for-11 at the foul line. Kia Wilridge carded her first double-double of the season as she had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Like Arceneaux, Wilridge did a good job of getting to the line as she knocked down five of her 10 attempts.
Adrienne Prejan also chipped in with 11 points. The Jaguar defense did a solid job of limiting ULL's Sylvana Okde as the sophomore guard had just six points and one three-pointer. Okde had averaged 19.3 ppg in her first two conference games and had hit 15 of her 27 three-point attempts, but the SBC leader with 2.6 treys per game was held to just 1-of-5 shooting on the night.
South Alabama held a three-point advantage early in the opening half, but coming out of the first media time out, ULL reeled off a 13-4 run over a four minute stretch to take a 16-10 lead at the 11:33 mark. Braile Fields began the scoring with a trey and a jumper and Prejean gave Louisiana-Lafayette the six-point advantage.
ULL hit six-straight shots and forced six Jaguar turnovers during the Cajun run.
The Jaguars battled back and retook the lead (17-16) with a pair of Breanna Hall free throws at the 9:38 mark, but the lead was short-lived as on the ensuing possession, the Ragin' Cajuns beat the press with another bucket from Prejean. She would go on to record eight first-half points for ULL. Arceneaux followed with six-straight points to close out an 8-0 run for Louisiana-Lafayette and put the visitors back out in front 24-17 with under seven minutes remaining before the half.
South Alabama began to battle its way back and over the next five-plus minutes chipped away at the deficit, finally tying the contest back up at 29-29 on a turnaround jumper in the lane by Jennifer Johnson with one minute, 25 seconds showing on the clock.
Once again though, ULL wouldn't let the Jags hold the momentum long as Prejean's bucket with under a minute to go put the Cajuns back out in front (31-29).
"I thought we came out OK, not great, but we were able to settle ourselves down and get back into it," Fowler said. "It was a good ball game. I thought in the first half both team were going at it. We turned it over too much, but still had ourselves in a situation where it was a two-point ball game, so I felt good about that"
In the second half, South Alabama regained the lead (36-34) on another Johnson bucket four-and-a-half minutes into the final period of play, but over the next minute, ULL once again came right back with seven unanswered points, five of which coming from the free throw line, to retake the lead. Robbie Brown's free throws with 13:44 left in the game gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 41-36 advantage.
The Jaguars came answered the mini Cajun run with a run of their own, this one a 10-0 scoring spurt over a three-minute stretch. Johnson and Robertson began the scoring for USA with a couple of baskets down low. After two free throws each from Hall and Cumbo, Robertson gave South Alabama its largest lead of the night at 46-41 with a bucket at the 9:23 mark.
However, Louisiana-Lafayette was able to string together another run as the Ragin' Cajuns reeled off an 11-0 spurt to regain the lead. The ULL pressure once again provided the spark for the visitors. Jasmine Mills got the scoring going with a pair of free throws with just under nine minutes left in regulation. Okde then knocked down her first long-range bucket less than 10 seconds later after a Jaguar turnover to knot the game back up at 46-46. Arceneaux then stole the ball and got a layup of her own to give ULL a 48-46 advantage. Wilridge later capped off the scoring for Louisiana-Lafayette with a jumper at the 7:31 mark to make it a 52-46 game.
"As we come out into the second half, they kind of went into a relaxed full-court press and I thought we were able to handle that and were able to get some baskets and do what we wanted to do," Fowler said. "Then they turned it up a notch and we weren't able to handle it at all. Then I thought fatigue kind of set in too. I thought Lafayette wanted it more. They played harder. They got every loose ball on the floor and then we just had some missed assignments on the defensive end of the floor. But to our credit we did fight back and had an opportunity to get the game to a one-possession game and just weren't able to finish it off."
Johnson and Robertson were both forced to go to the bench during the ULL run as they were each saddled with four fouls each.
South Alabama kept fighting down the stretch and made it a one-possession game with 28.6 seconds remaining as Hall drained her third three of the night, this one from the right corner. However, USA was unable to take advantage of a couple of one-of-two conversions by the Cajuns at the foul line, as the Jags missed a pair of three-point attempts in the closing seconds.
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).
NOTES: The loss to Louisiana-Lafayette snapped a 10-game win streak by South Alabama in the series and was the first for the Ragin' Cajuns against USA since Jan. Jan. 27, 2007. It was also the first loss versus ULL in Mobile since the 2005-06 season. The 15 points by junior guard Breanna Hall was a new career-best for the Mesquite, Texas, native, eclipsing her previous mark of 13 set at Southern Miss earlier this season. The 30 turnovers were a season high for the Jaguars. South Alabama has committed 21 or more turnovers seven times this season.
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