Box Score - Southern 50, South Alabama 45 (.pdf)

BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team shot just 6-of-17 at the free-throw line for 36.3 percent Friday night and that proved to be costly as the Jaguar women fell 50-45 to Southern at the F.G. Clark Activity Center.  

"We shoot 75 percent the other night (against Spring Hill) and then we come out tonight and aren't able to make them," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "There were some key ones that we missed at times that would have given us a chance to extend the lead or get us right back and tie the ball game up.  We didn't make those and then Southern comes back at the other end of the floor and make a layup out of a baseline out-of-bounds play to give them a three-point lead.  From that point on, it was nip-and-tuck and we never could get the lead back."

USA was also 4-of-11 at the stripe in the second half and four of its eight attempts during the final 10 minutes of play.

South Alabama (1-1) will now return home to host Central Florida on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.  Live stats and web streaming for the contest can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com.  Fans can also keep up with in-match updates by following action on the program's twitter account @SouthALWBB.

Daniels led the way offensively for South Alabama in the loss, finishing with a game-high 14 points in 33 minutes of action.  Genesis Perrymond also recorded double digits ending the night with 10 points.  Taylor Jenkins nearly recorded a double-double as the senior forward had eight points and nine rebounds.  Chyna Ellis led the club on the glass with 13 rebounds, 10 of which coming on the defensive end of the floor.

Southern improved to 2-1 on the year with the five-point win.  Skylar O'Bear was the lone player in double figures, recording 11 points in 28 minutes of action.  Briana Green, Jadea Brundidge and Cortnei Purnell each finished the contest with eight points apiece.  Purnell led the Jaguars on the boards with eight rebounds, while Miaya Crowder and Brundidge each had seven rebounds apiece.

South Alabama scored on two of its first three possessions and led 5-0 a minute-and-a-half into the contest.  Over the next USA five-plus minutes though, the Jags would score just one point.

Southern took its first lead of the contest at the 4:38 mark of the first quarter on a bucket by Purnell, but the lead would be brief as on USA's ensuing possession, Perrymond knocked down her second three-pointer of the game, this one coming with three minutes, 14 seconds showing on the clock.  A little over a minute later, Colby Davis came up with a loose ball on the floor and passed it to Perrymond who found Juliann Miller wide open down the court for an easy lay up to put the Jags up by four (11-7).

Leading by two entering the second period of action, South Alabama got off to a quick start and led 19-14 four minutes into the quarter after a layup by Daniels.  Southern came right back and trimmed the deficit to two (19-17) when O'Bear knocked down her third trey game at the 5:34 mark.  SU would later hit one of two at the foul line to pull within one, but Perrymond continued her hot shooting from the outside as she connected for her third three of the night.

With under two to go before the half, Brundidge's bucket in the paint again pulled Southern to within one (22-21), but with under a minute to go, USA would turn to the long-range shot to provide an offensive spark as Davis' three-pointer from the top of the key started a 7-0 run for the Jags to close out the final minute.  With 11.6 remaining, Daniels hit one of her two attempts at the charity stripe and then after a turnover by Southern, the sophomore guard drained a half-court three as the buzzer sounded to send South Alabama into the locker room with a 29-21 halftime advantage.  

Perrymond led USA offensively with nine first-half points, while Daniels scored all eight of her points during the second period of play.  O'Bear paced Southern with nine points of her own.  Ellis pulled down 10 rebounds during the first 20 minutes of play.  

After hitting just one three-pointer in its season-opener against Spring Hill on Tuesday night, South Alabama had five treys during the first half on Friday.  

Trailing by nine at the intermission, Southern came out on fire to start the third period, knocking down five of its first eight shot attempts and opening up on an 11-2 run.  Danayea Charles hit one of two at the foul line to cap off the Jaguar run and give the host their first lead since the first quarter at 32-31 with less than five to play in the period.

"Southern hit some shots that they weren't making in the first half," Fowler said of the opening second half run.  "We didn't handle the adversity well.  We were going to take a time out to try to stop the run, but every time we thought about taking it, we had an advantage and we didn't want to slow things down.  We wanted to see if we could get an easy bucket.  We either didn't convert those opportunities or turned the ball over.  It just snowballed from there."

With its offense struggling, USA let its defense lead to a couple of easy baskets.  South Alabama forced two straight turnovers which led to back-to-back layups by Daniels, giving the Jags a 35-32 advantage with just over a minute to go in the third quarter.  Brundidge would have the answer for Southern in the closing seconds though as she hit a pair of free throws and then knocked down turnaround jumper in the lane to give the host Jags a 36-35 lead at the break.

South Alabama got off to a good start in the fourth scoring on its first three possessions – two buckets by Taylor Jenkins and a runner along the left baseline by Davis at the 8:11 mark.  USA would later hold a 42-37 lead after Perrymond hit one of two at the line, but Southern would answer right back.  

Green knocked down a jumper just inside the three-point line from the right corner with six minutes, 28 seconds to play.  On Southern's next possession, Green found Kenidi Robinson open in the lane for a bucket to knot the contest up at 42-42.  

After Guillory hit one of two at the line with five minutes showing on the clock, Green put Southern up for good (44-43) with another jumper at the 4:15 mark.  Green scored all eight of her points in the final period of play and was perfect from both the field (3-of-3) and the charity stripe (2-of-2).

Green would hit a layup a minute later to put SU up 46-43.  On USA's ensuing possession, Daniels was fouled and sank both her attempts at the line to cut the deficit to one.  
South Alabama was able to get a defensive stop on each of Southern's next two possessions, but the Jaguars were unable to take advantage as they turned the ball over.

Leading by just one with 20 seconds to play, Southern allowed South Alabama to still have life as it managed hit just one of two at the foul line on each of its next two trips.  Coming out of a time out, USA was able to get an open look from the left corner that would have tied the contest up, but the ball hit the side of the backboard and bounced out of bounds with four seconds to go.

Forced to foul, Green sealed the win in the closing seconds as she knocked down both her free-throw attempts.

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).

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