Game 8: vs. William Carey Game Notes (.pdf)MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team will host William Carey on Tuesday night in the club's final home non-conference game of the season. Tip-off versus the Lady Crusaders is set for 7 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.
The game will be the first regular-season meeting between the two clubs since the 1979-80 season. South Alabama defeated the Lady Crusaders 58-26 last season in an exhibition game in Mobile.
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.
South Alabama (2-5) comes into the game after suffering its second-straight loss, falling 53-39 to UAB on Sunday. The 39 points were marked the second-lowest offensive output for the Jaguars this season. USA was out-rebounded by 19 by the Blazers and pulled down just one offensive rebound.
The Jaguars also struggled from the foul line, converting just three of their 13 attempts. South Alabama was 2-of-9 from the foul line in the second half. As a team, USA is shooting just 53.1 percent from the free-throw line.
South Alabama has been without three players, including leading scorer Marquita Daniels (10.3), for the past three games. Taylor Jenkins has missed the last five games and D'Andra Pringle has missed the last four due to injury as well.
Redshirt freshman forward Erin Autio came off the bench and recorded a career-high 16 points in the loss. Autio was 6-of-11 from the field and hit four of her eight three-point attempts. Autio is shooting 33.3 percent from the three point line this season and averaging 6.0 ppg. She has scored double figures in two of her last three outings.
Genesis Perrymond ranks second on the Jag roster offensively with 8.4 points per contest. Perrymond has 10 treys this season. Perrymond also leads the team in assists (16), steals (16) and is second in blocks with seven. Perrymond had four blocks against the Blazers in her last outing.
As a team, South Alabama currently leads the Sun Belt in blocks, averaging 5.6 per game.
William Carey enters the game versus the Jaguars with a 4-3 record on the year. In its last outing, WCU dropped a heartbreaker (69-67) at home to Southern-New Orleans. Nijea Dixon paced the club offensively with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Cortney Epting and Alecha Gibbs also finished in double figures with 11 points each for the Lady Crusaders.
William Carey shot 52 percent in the first half and jumped out to a 24-18 lead after the opening period of play, but SUNO battled back and outscored them 23-13 in the third. The Lady Knights shot 46.2 percent in the second half and held WCU to just 28.1 percent shooting over the last two quarters.
Tuesday night's game will be an exhibition contest for the Lady Crusaders.
"William Carey is very athletic," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "They went out in the off-season and got a lot of junior college and experienced players to come into their program, which has helped them to get off to their 4-3 start this season. One of those junior college additions is Alyson Johnson who is a scorer averaging 14 points a game. She has the ability to be both a shooter and diver. She just has a knack for scoring with the basketball."
The Lady Crusaders have 13 junior college players on their roster this season.
"Their athleticism really allows them to get after you and press you," Fowler added. "They want to speed the game up, move the ball up and down the floor and get so points in transition. Handling those things are going to be a few of the challenges for us Tuesday night. We just need to be able to handle their pressure and get some easy baskets, which will hopefully pull them out of their press."
William Carey has 83 steals (11.9 per game) through seven games this season and has forced their opponents into 155 turnovers (22.1 per game). Khadejah Buxton's 17 steals are the most on the Crusader roster, while Taylor Brister has 14.
Alyson Johnson leads the team with 14.3 points per outing. Johnson has 15 made threes this season and is shooting 30.6 percent from beyond the arc. Johnson also ranks third on the club in steals with 10. Johnson is also 15 of 17 at the foul line for 88.2 percent.
The Crusaders also have seven other players averaging 5.3 ppg or more. Nijea Dixon ranks second on the club with 8.8 ppg. Dixon is shooting 43.6 percent from the field in five games of action. Junior forward Alecha Gibbs is right behind Dixon with 7.6 points per outing and leads William Carey on the glass with 5.4 per contest. She is also connecting on 40.4 percent of her shot 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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