Box Score - South Alabama 60, Texas-Arlington 57 (OT) (.pdf)

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MOBILE, Ala. – Playing in her final collegiate game, senior guard Meghan Dunn closed out her South Alabama career in an outstanding fashion as she recorded a career-high 23 points and hit four crucial free throws in overtime to lead the Jaguar women's basketball team to a 60-57 win over Texas-Arlington Saturday night on "Senior Night" at Mitchell Center.

Prior to the game versus Texas-Arlington, USA recognized its four seniors - Dunn (Hoover, Ala.), Jennifer Johnson (Tulsa, Okla.), Olivia Mohler (Vancleave, Miss.) and Ronneka Robertson (Kentwood, La.).

"We told our team – and I preface this by saying that it's going to sound crazy – but very few teams get to end their season with a win unless you win the [national] championship," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "Unfortunately, we are not going to the conference tournament, but let's win this for our seniors, let's have a great feeling in that locker room and carry that over into our postseason workouts.

"(Texas-Arlington) jumped on us early in the second half.  At one point during a timeout I just challenged them because I thought we were quitting; they were looking at each other for some magical answer.  And that answer is work.  We just told them to keep playing hard, it wasn't a magical play that we had but we had to keep grinding and keep the process going.

"They answered that challenge, and once we got it to four the crowd really got into it, I really want to thank them for what they did.  We had a great chance to end it in regulation and it didn't go for us, and in overtime we still didn't make shots – we only made free throws to win the ball game – but sometimes you have to do that.  It was a great way for our seniors to go out and for our team to experience a good feeling at the end of a game once again."

Dunn carded her 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting and a 5-of-6 performance at the foul line, while also registering a career-best four steals and three assists.  

Breanna Hall also recorded her 12 double-figure game in her last 14 with 12 points.  Robertson also notched double digits with 10 points, while the senior forward and Johson led USA on the glass with eight boards apiece.  

USA ends the season with an 8-20 overall record and a 6-12 mark in the Sun Belt, while the Mavericks close out the 2013-14 campaign 4-25 and 3-15 in their first season in the Sun Belt.

Texas-Arlington placed three players in double figures led by Desherra Nwanguma's 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, but was also one of four UTA players to foul out in the contest.

Also ending the night in double digits for the Mavericks were Laila Suleiman (12) and Chauntandra Williams (11).  Allyson Te'o pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds, while Tahlia Pope also had 10 boards.  As a team, UTA held a 58-37 edge on the glass, including a 44-25 advantage at the defensive end.  The 58 rebounds were the most by a Jag opponent this season and the most since Wake Forest pulled down 51 earlier in the season.  

The South Alabama defense was able to force 27 UTA turnovers and the 10 steals by the Jaguars were one shy of tying a season high.  The Jags were able to turn those Maverick miscues into 20 points.  USA also had a season-high six blocks led by three from Johnson.  

UTA came out and scored on its opening possession of the game, but following Nwanguma's layup, the Mavericks would go on to miss their next eight shots and turn the ball over three times.

South Alabama took advantage and scored seven-straight points, the first five coming from Rachel Cumbo and then the next two on a jumper by Dunn at the 15:04 mark to give USA a 7-2 advantage.

The Mavericks came right back though with an 11-2 run of its own over the next four-and-a-half minutes to reclaim the lead.  Walker recorded four of her eight first-half points for UTA during the run.  Williams capped off the scoring and put the visitors up 13-9 with a three from the right wing.

Dunn trimmed the deficit to one (13-12) with a trey of her own from the top of the key nearly a minute later, but UTA stretched its lead back out to 19-14 with seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the opening period of play on a put back by Walker.

Robertson answered with an and-one play on USA's ensuing possession to trim the UTA lead to 19-17.  The play was big as it was Walker's third foul of the game.  Nwanguma was already on the bench after picking up a pair of fouls in the first four minutes of action.  

The Mavericks extended their lead back out to eight (25-17) on a jumper by Williams at the 4:25 mark and later led 28-21 with under three to go in the half after Pope hit one of two at the foul line.  

USA though came right back and tied the contest back up at 28-28 on the strength of a 7-0 run over a two-plus minute stretch.  Hall knotted the contest back up and capped off the scoring with a layup with 39.6 seconds showing on the clock.  

Texas-Arlington retook the lead on its next possession though and headed into the locker room with a 30-28 lead.  

South Alabama was just 9-of-30 (30 percent) from the field in the first half and just 2-of-10 from the three-point line during the first 20 minutes of action.  USA was 9-of-15 from the arc in the first half in the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.

In the second half, the Jaguars would struggle early on in the second half, hitting just three of their first 18 shot attempts in the period.  USA would shoot 27.3 percent for the game.

Texas-Arlington, led by the play of Nwanguma, conversely hit seven of its first 14 attempts from the field to start the second half.

Leading by five (37-32) four-and-a-half minutes into the second stanza, the Mavericks gained some breathing room as they pushed across eight-straight points.  UTA did all its damage inside as all four of its field goals during the run came inside the paint.  Williams gave the Mavericks their largest lead of the game at 13 (45-32) at the 13:39 mark on a put back by Williams.

USA kept battling and after narrowing the deficit to six on a couple of occasions, the Jaguars were able to make one final push.

Texas-Arlington held a 54-46 advantage after a free throw by Pope with under three to play, but the Jags found some offense and fed off their defense to rally back.

Hall drove the lane and dropped in a bucket at the 2:33 mark, igniting a 8-0 run in the closing minutes.  With just over a minute remaining, Dunn penetrated inside the lane and dumped off a pass to Johnson who knocked down a jumper of her own to trim the deficit to four.  After getting a defensive stop at the other end of the floor, Dunn muscled in a shot of her own with 26.3 showing on the clock to make it 54-52.  With the shot clock off and needing a turnover, the USA defense forced a five-second violation and got the ball back.  Dunn again was clutch for the Jags as she knocked down a jumper in the lane with 24.1 remaining to tie the contest up at 54-54.

Both teams each had a chance to win it in regulation, but neither was able to get the score.  

In the extra session, Nwanguma came out and scored the first three points for UTA to put the Mavericks up three with less than three-minutes to go, but those would be the final points for the visitors as the Jaguar defense stiffened.  

After missing all six of its field-goal attempts to that point in overtime, the Jaguars turned to the charity stripe to complete the comeback.  On two-straight South Alabama possessions, Dunn was able to get to the line where she hit all four of her attempts to give USA a one-point lead (58-57) with a minute remaining.  On the next two UTA possessions, Johnson made the defensive plays for the Jags as she had a steal and a block.  Forced to foul, the Mavericks sent Cumbo to the line where she calmly sank both attempts with 19.6 seconds remaining to extend USA's lead out to 60-57.  

Trailing by three, Suleiman had her three-point attempt blocked by Dunn with nine seconds remaining.  UTA's Te'o came down with the rebound.  Coming out of a time out, the Jaguar defense barred down and prevented the Mavericks from getting another shot attempt as the seconds tipped away to give South Alabama the 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, South Alabama improves to 2-1 in the all-time series versus Texas-Arlington.  Each of the two meetings between clubs this season went to overtime with USA taking both.  The win was the first of the season for the Jags when they had been trailing at the half.  USA had previously been 0-14 and 0-8 in conference play when trailing at the intermission.  The 23 points by Meghan Dunn and the four steals were both new career best for the senior guard.  In her two games versus the Mavericks this season, Dunn averaged 22.0 ppg.  Prior to the game versus Texas-Arlington, USA recognized its four seniors - Dunn (Hoover, Ala.), Jennifer Johnson (Tulsa, Okla.), Olivia Mohler (Vancleave, Miss.) and Ronneka Robertson (Kentwood, La.).   The 27 turnovers forced by South Alabama was a season-high versus an opponent.  USA was one steal shy of tying a season-high as it had 10 versus UTA.  The Jags also had a season-high six blocks led by three from Johnson.  The 58 rebounds by the Mavericks were the most by a Jag opponent this season and the most since Wake Forest pulled down 51 earlier in the season.  

—USA—