Box Score - Southern Miss 64, South Alabama 53 (.pdf)
Post Game Quotes
Photo Gallery

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball recorded just two made field goals during a 12 minute stretch in the second half and committed 29 turnovers in the game versus Southern Miss Monday night as the Golden Eagles handed the Jaguars a 64-53 loss in their season-opener at the Mitchell Center.

"I would like to thank our fans for coming out and supporting us tonight," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "I thought as we made a fight to get back in the game they gave us a big lift. It's turnovers in the first half. We had 19 turnovers at halftime and we were down three. I told our kids, 'If you knew that coming in, you take that'. We were down three with 19 turnovers and it was our ball to start the second half with the chance to tie it or cut the lead to one. We're playing so many young kids and so many different lineups; it's hard for us to get a rhythm. We're just going to have to let it work itself out and we'll get the rotations cut down. It's going to be based on who is taking care of the basketball.

"Southern Miss' physicality in the second half wore us down. I thought their post players just continued to pound on us, and they just got points in the paint. That's one of our goals, not to allow points in the paint. They just wore us down, and they made some great plays down the stretch to give them a comfortable lead. We fought back and gave ourselves an opportunity. I was proud of the effort we gave."

The Jaguars (0-1) will have a quick turnaround now as they will welcome the University of Mobile to the Mitchell Center on Wednesday night.  Tip-off versus the Lady Rams is set for 7:05 p.m.

Senior guard Breanna Hall was the lone Jag to record double-digits in the loss as she posted 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.  Amber Yelding and Chyna Ellis each added eight points apiece off the bench.  Yelding also recorded four of South Alabama's 10 steals, while Ellis pulled down five rebounds.  Simonne Potts had six points and six rebounds.

South Alabama shot 42.9 percent for the game on 21-of-49 shooting, but after knocking down 52.4 percent of its shots in the first half, USA was just 10-for-28 in the final period for 35.7 percent.  The Jaguars also struggled at the foul line, connecting on just eight of their 17 attempts for 47.1 percent.  South Alabama was just 3-of-13 from long range.

Southern Miss (2-0) placed a pair of players in double digits in the victory.  Tamara Jones and Kierra Jordan combined to record 30 points off the bench for USM.  As a team, the Golden Eagle reserves held a 46-23 advantage in bench points.

Jones led the club with 16 points – all of which came during the final 20 minutes of play – on 5-of-7 shooting.  She was also 5-of-6 from the free-throw line.  Jordan ended the night with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds.  Jerontay Clemons just missed double figures with eight points of her own off the bench.

After shooting just 35.3 percent in the opening half, Southern Miss was on fire in the second stanza, knocking down 13 of its 22 attempts for 59.1 percent.  Of USM's 36 second-half points, 22 came inside the paint.  The Eagles had 44 points in the paint for the game.

For the game, the Golden Eagles were 25-of-56 for 44.6 percent.  

Led by the play of Hall early on, South Alabama jumped out to a 13-4 advantage five minutes into the contest.  Hall had all 10 of her first half points during the early Jaguar run and was 4-for-4 from the field during the stretch.

Trailing by nine, the Golden Eagles took advantage of some Jag turnovers and answered back with eight unanswered points.  Markia Nix cut the USA lead to 13-12 at the 13:23 mark with a fast break layup off an Alex Coyne steal.

South Alabama pushed its lead back out to five (17-12) a minute later after buckets by Ellis and Marquita Daniels, but once again the Golden Eagles took advantage of Jaguar miscues and rattled off a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the night.  Brittanny Dinkins tied the contest up at 19-19 when Nix found her open for a layup with just under 10 minutes remaining in the period.  On USM's next possession, Ashley Folsom's hook shot in the paint gave the visitors a 21-19 lead with nine minutes, four seconds remaining in the first half.  

Taylor Jenkins tied the game back up a minute-and-a-half later with a bucket of her own, but Jordan scored nine-straight points for Southern Miss over a two minute stretch, with all but one coming in the paint.  

Following Jenkins' bucket, South Alabama would not score again until just over a minute to go before the half – a scoreless stretch of six-and-a-half minutes.  Jag committed six turnovers during that time.  USA would finish the half with 19 turnovers.

Ellis' bucket at the 1:10 mark ended the offensive drought for South Alabama. Yelding then knocked down a step back baseline jumper just before the horn to send USA into the locker room down 28-25.

Four-and-a-half minutes into the second half, Yelding trimmed Southern Miss' lead to 33-31 when she drove the lane for a layup.  The Golden Eagles though answered right back with a 13-0 run to extend their lead out to 15 at 46-31 with just over 10 minutes to go.  Brooke Rhodes ignited the run for USM when she drained her second trey of the night and after a Clemons free throw, Jones closed out the run with 10-straight points.  

South Alabama did a much better job of protecting the ball in the second half as it only had 10 turnovers in the final frame, but following Yelding's bucket at the 15:24 mark, USA would only record two field goals over the next 12-plus minutes.  During that time, Southern Miss would stretch its lead out to as much as 18.  The Jaguars missed 11 field-goal attempts also during that same time.

With the Golden Eagles leading by that margin at 60-42 with just over three minutes left to play, the Jaguar defense spurred on a late charge as South Alabama reeled off nine unanswered points to get itself back in the game and cut the deficit to 60-51 with one, minute 48 seconds to play.  Yelding had two of the Jags' three steals during that spurt and her layup put the deficit under double digits.

USA continued to fight, but was unable to get any closer as Southern Miss went on to pick up the 11-point victory.

NOTES: South Alabama is now 10-17 in the all-time series with Southern Miss.  The win by the Golden Eagles was their first at the Mitchell Center and was the first in Mobile versus the Jaguars since the 1997-98 season.  The Jaguars now hold an 83-182 all-time record against current Conference USA members.  Senior Jag guard Breanna Hall was 6-for-6 in the exhibition win over William Carey and hit her first five field goals against the Golden Eagles, but had her 11 consecutive made basket streak ended in the second half.  Dating back to last season, Hall has now scored double figures in 13 of her last 15 games.  Southern Miss held a 41-26 advantage on the glass versus the Jags in the loss.  USA is now 20-21 in season openers and 32-9 in home openers, including 12-4 in both categories at the Mitchell Center.

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).

—USA—