Box Score - South Alabama 72, Louisiana-Monroe 70 (.pdf)
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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama's Rachel Cumbo hit all four of her foul shots in the final 18.3 seconds to seal the Jaguar women's third Sun Belt win of the season as USA defeated Louisiana-Monroe 72-70 Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.
Cumbo, who led all scorers with 19 points, was 4-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-4 from the three-point line and hit all eight of her free-throw opportunities.
Senior forward Ronneka Roberson posted her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds – all on the defensive end – and was also perfect at the charity stripe, as the Kentwood, La., native went 6-for-6. As a team, the Jags were 22-of-26 at the foul line for 84.6 percent.
Meghan Dunn also ended the night in double-digits with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while Breanna Hall posted her second-straight double-figure outing with 10 points off the bench.
USA (5-11, 3-3 SBC) will next play a week from today when the Jaguars travel to take on Texas-Arlington on Jan. 25 at 5 p.m. at the College Park Center on the UTA campus.
"I really thought our young ladies did a great job of executing the game plan," Fowler said. "After the Louisiana-Lafayette, we sat down and watched a lot of film and saw some little things that we could do better, then came back and focused on Louisiana-Monroe. They did a great job, our kids were in tune to the things they were doing. I couldn't be more proud of our execution.
"We got off to a good start and played pretty well, although we were kind of stagnant at the start of the second half; that's been our M.O., to play great in the first half. We need to sustain that for 40 minutes. Around the 10-minute mark we really challenged them and told them we needed to pick up our intensity. We were able to do that and get back into the ball game, and down the stretch I told our kids if we could get up four points we would be fine."
With the loss, Louisiana-Monroe had its three-game win streak snapped and dropped to 7-10 overall and 3-2 in the league.
Alayshia Hunter and Alexar Tuglar led the Warhawks with 18 points each, while Ashleigh Simmons recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Simmons was 4-of-8 from the floor and connected on five of her six opportunities at the foul line.
The 18 points for Hunter were a new career-high for the sophomore. She was 8-of-14 from the field in 24 minutes of action. A. Tuglar was 7-of-11 from the field and hit all four of her three-point attempts.
With ULM holding a one-point advantage (9-8) five minutes into the contest, South Alabama was the first to stretch its lead out to more than a one possession game. Over a two-plus minute stretch, the Jags ran off a 7-0 spurt on a pair of Jennifer Johnson buckets and a Cumbo trey.
The Warhawks battled back and narrowed the deficit to 17-14 on a Sharnice Brooks basket at the 10:12 mark, but on the Jags next trip down the floor, Hall knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing.
Hall's trey began an 8-2 run over the next two minutes to give USA its largest advantage at 25-16. Hall capped off the Jaguar run and put South Alabama up by nine with a pair of free throws.
Louisiana-Monroe answered back with another run of its own, this one a 10-3 scoring spurt over a three-minute stretch. Hunter ignited the run with back-to-back baskets and had six of her 10 first-half points during the ULM run. Simmons narrowed South Alabama's lead to two (28-26) with a bucket of her own with less than four minutes remaining in the half.
After trading three-pointers, South Alabama extended its advantage back out to 35-29 after a Taylor Jenkins bucket and two more free throws from Cumbo. Cumbo led the Jags in the first half with 10 points. She was 3-of-3 from the field, including 2-of-2 from the arc and hit both her free-throw attempts.
As a team, South Alabama was 6-of-9 from the three-point line in the first half and a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line.
The Jaguars stretched out their lead to eight (40-32) with 32.5 seconds remaining after a three from Dunn and a pair of Robertson free throws, but ULM's A. Tuglar drained a trey of her own on the Warhawks next possession. A. Tuglar led Louisiana-Monroe during the first 20 minutes of play with 11 points.
Coming out of the intermission, Louisiana-Monroe quickly grabbed the lead as they rattled off seven of the first eight points and took a 42-41 advantage on an and-one play by Jasmine Shaw a minute-and-a-half into the second half.
Over the next several minutes, the two clubs went back-and-forth. With USA holding a 47-46 lead with just over 14 minutes remaining, ULM retook the lead with a 5-0 spurt. A. Tuglar gave the Warhawks the 51-47 lead when she knocked down a 12-foot jumper from the left baselin with 10 minutes, 47 seconds showing on the clock.
Louisiana-Monroe later extended its advantage out to 56-50 with just over eight minutes to go as A. Tuglar drained her fourth trey of the afternoon.
South Alabama's Hall answered back with a three of her own on the ensuing Jaguar possession. USA would continue to answer Warhawk baskets over the next couple of possessions.
Trailing 60-55 with under six to go, Dunn drove to the basket for a layup which seemed to spark the Jaguars and ignite an 11-1 run for USA over the next three-plus minutes. Jennifer Johnson followed her own miss on the Jags' next possession. After a pair of free throws from Cumbo tied the contest back up at 61-61, Dunn found the sophomore guard open at the top of the key for a huge three-pointer.
On Louisiana-Monroe's next trip down the floor, Robertson got the ball back for the Jaguars as the senior drew a charge. South Alabama capitalized on the defensive play as Hall gave the home team a 66-61 advantage with a layup at the 2:05 mark.
South Alabama got another defensive stop on ULM's next possession, but after inbounding the ball, Robertson was called for a foul, which was ruled a flagrant one after being reviewed by the officials. E. Tuglar knocked down both free throws for the Warhawks and A. Tuglar's jumper with under a minute remaining, trimmed South Alabama's lead to 66-65.
Dunn came up big on the Jaguars next possession and connected along the baseline with an eight-foot jumper. After missed layup by ULM, Cumbo grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled, where she hit both her attempts.
Hunter recorded a bucket in the paint with 7.2 seconds remaining, but Cumbo again went to the line with 5.5 seconds showing on the clock. The Houston, Texas, native again knocked down both her attempts. The free throws by Cumbo would proved to be key as Shaw drained Louisiana-Monroe's fifth three-pointer of the night from the left corner at the buzzer, but it wasn't enough as South Alabama took the 72-70 win.
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: With the win over Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama improved to 12-5 in the all-time series and 7-2 in games played in Mobile. USA has now won three-straight in the series and seven of the last nine dating back to the 2007-08 season. USA also improved to 9-16 all-time in televised games. USA's Rachel Cumbo finished one-point shy of tying her career high of 20 points. Ronneka Robertson posted her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. All 11 of Robertson's rebounds came on the defensive glass. Defensive rebounds were a key stat for the Jaguars in the game as USA pulled down 29 defensive boards and held ULM to just nine offensive rebounds. The Warhawks had recorded 24 offensive rebounds in its previous game at Troy. The duo of Cumbo and Robertson were a combined 14-of-14 at the foul line. As a team, South Alabama was 22-of-26 at the charity stripe.
—USA—
