Box Score - South Alabama 73, Texas-Arlington 72 (OT) (.pdf)

ARLINGTON, Texas – Meghan Dunn sank a pair of free throws with 8.7 seconds remaining in overtime and Texas-Arlington's last-second bucket was waved off after review as the University of South Alabama women's basketball defeated the Mavericks, 73-72 to pick up its fourth Sun Belt Conference win of the season Saturday evening at the College Park Center.

UTA looked as if it had picked up its first conference victory of the season when Malaika Green came up with an offensive rebound and got rid of a shot as the buzzer sounded, but after reviewing the video, the officials ruled that the shot had come after the horn and waved off the basket, giving South Alabama the victory.  

"We just kept fighting," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "They made a run, they got up and their crowd got into it.  We kept it within striking distance, that was key, and we made shots when we had to and got some stops.  We just traded baskets for a while, but we made the stops when we had to.  

"I thought we played as well as we could in the first half and shot the ball well.  When you make nine threes in the first half, you're going to give yourself a pretty good chance.  I was just hoping we could continue that play.  That's how it's been for us on the road.  We've gotten off to some really good starts, but not been able to sustain it.  It was just great that our kids to be able to fight through the adversity of the run that UTA had."

USA (6-11, 4-3 SBC) will now head to Georgia State to take on the Panthers on Wednesday at the GSU Sports Arena.

The Jaguars placed four in double figures led by 21 points apiece from Dunn and Breanna Hall.  Dunn – who tied a career high – was 6-of-14 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line, while Hall – who set a new career high in the win – was 6-of-13 and 4-of-9 from the three-point line.  The Mesquite, Texas, native also set a new career-best in steals with five.

Brittany Webb also chipped in with 11 points and a career-best seven assists in 40 minutes of action, while Ronneka Robertson just missed recording her second-straight double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.  Rachel Cumbo just missed double digits with nine points – all of which came from beyond the arc for the conference leader in that category.  

As a team, South Alabama shot 40 percent from the field and knocked down a season-best 11 three-pointers.  USA was 11-of-26 from the arc for 42.3 percent shooting.  

Texas-Arlington (1-17, 0-7 SBC), which entered play tied with Georgia State for top honors at the free-throw line, shot under its season average, hitting just 15 of its 24 attempts for 62.5 percent.  UTA was 11-of-20 at the charity stripe in the second half and overtime after hitting all four of its attempts in the first half.  

The Mavericks also placed four players in double figures and was led by Desherra Nwanguma's four double-double of the season as the senior post player had 19 points and 17 rebounds – 16 of which coming on the defensive glass.  Nwanguma was 7-for-15 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the foul line.  

Briana Walker finished with 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.  Green added 13 points and Laila Sulieman nearly had a triple-double ending the contest with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.  

The Mavericks came out and led early on, but behind the its three-point shooting, South Alabama rallied back and took its first lead of the night (13-10) after back-to-back treys by Dunn six minutes into the contest.  

Coming out of the first media time out, USA committed two-straight turnovers and Wright narrowed the Jag lead to 13-12 with a layup with just over 12 minutes remaining in the first half.  Walker led UTA with eight points in the opening period of play, but had to sit the final minutes of the half after picking up her third foul.

With South Alabama holding a 16-14 lead a minute later, Hall – playing in front of her family – sparked the Jags when the junior drained a three from the left wing and then knocked down the free throw after being fouled on the play.  Cumbo then followed with a trey of her own two possessions later to extend the USA lead out to nine.

After a bucket by Walker at the 6:50 mark ended a nearly four-minute offensive drought for the Mavericks, South Alabama continued to ride the three-ball as Cumbo ignited a 9-0 run for USA over a minute-and-a-half stretch with her second long ball of the game.  Robertson then got a jumper to roll in.  Dunn then drained one of her three first-half three-pointers from the top of the key at the 4:59 mark to give the Jags their largest lead of the half (31-16).

The Mavericks trimmed the deficit to eight (31-23) with less than two minutes remaining before the intermission after a layup and a pair of free throws by Nwanguma, but Hall again had the answer as she connected from the right corner on USA's next possession to put the Jags back out on top by 11 (34-23) at the 1:38 mark.  South Alabama went on to take the 11-point lead into the break.

Coming out of the locker room, the Jaguars looked as if they were going to maintain control, leading by as much as 13 three minutes into the second half.  However, with USA holding a 44-31 advantage, the Mavericks began to make a run.

UTA would go on to outscore South Alabama 16-0 over the next five minutes and retake its first lead since early on in the first half.  Walker began the run with five-straight points for the Mavericks.  Sulieman knocked down a pair of three-pointers, her first points of the game, to trim USA's lead to 44-42 with just under 15 minutes showing on the clock.  Nwanguma then tied the contest back up at 44-44 on the Maverick's next trip down the court and Green later gave Texas-Arlington a three-point lead (47-44) at the 12:55 mark with a three of her own, this one coming from the right wing.

Texas-Arlington eventually stretched its lead out to as much as six (54-48) on an Allyson Te'o free throw with under 10 minutes remaining, but South Alabama would begin to claw its way back and narrowed the gap to 57-56 at the 4:50 mark after a pair of free throws from Hall.  

With under three minutes remaining, Dunn found Cumbo open at the top of the key for a trey to put USA back out in front, 61-60.

The two clubs traded points down the stretch and Hall had a chance with 19 seconds to give South Alabama a three-point advantage, but she was only able to hit one of her two attempts at the foul line.  UTA then came down and missed its shot attempt in the closing seconds, but with 2.3 seconds showing on the clock, Tahlia Pope was fouled.  Pope though could only hit one of her two opportunities, sending the game into overtime.  

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, South Alabama evens the all-time series to 1-1.  This was the first meeting between the two clubs since the 1998-99 season.  The game versus the Mavericks was also the 400th of the career for South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler.  The 21-point performances by Meghan Dunn and Breanna Hall marked the first time since Feb. 24, 2010 versus Denver that the Jaguars have had two players eclipse the 20-point mark a game.  The 21 points by Dunn tied a career-best for the senior, while both the 21 points and five steals were new career marks for Hall, playing in front of her family.  The 11 three-pointers were also a new season-high and the most since hitting 10 at Wake Forest on Dec. 20.  The overtime victory was the first extra session contest for the Jags since a 58-55 loss at Florida International (Feb. 18, 2012).  It was the first overtime win for the program since an 88-76 triple overtime victory over Central Florida (Nov. 12, 2011) in the 2011-12 season-opener.  The overtime road win was the first for the Jags since defeating New Orleans 68-65 on Jan. 12, 2008.  USA is now 11-18 all-time in overtime games and 4-13 in Sun Belt Conference games that go at least one extra period of play.  Colby Davis did not play due to an injury.  The win for the Jags was also their first road win of the season.

—USA—