Game 5: at Alabama State Game Notes (.pdf)MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team will begin a two-game road swing Thursday night when the Jaguars travel to take on in-state foe Alabama State. Tip-off versus the Hornets is set for 6 p.m. at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.
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 (1-3) comes into Thursday night's contest after falling 72-60 at home to Florida on Tuesday night. The loss was the third straight for the Jaguars.
USA led by one at the break, but shot just 26.7 percent from the field in the second half after shooting 50 percent during the first 20 minutes of action. Florida also held a 58-35 advantage on the glass and pulled down 25 offensive rebounds, which led to 17 more shot attempts than USA. The Jaguars were also just 10-of-23 from the foul line, including 7-of-15 in the second half.
"The main thing for us coming out of the Florida game is to continue to focus on three things – competing, staying together and believing in ourselves," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "I think that our players were disappointed that we lost the game, but they were starting to see and realize what they can do if they play with the type of energy and togetherness that we played with against Florida. If we do that moving forward, we can do some pretty good things."
Genesis Perrymond led the way offensively for South Alabama with a season-high 15 points. All four of Perrymond's made buckets came from beyond the three-point line. The redshirt freshman leads the club with eight treys on the year. Perrymond is also second on the club offensively with 9.0 points per contest.
Sophomore guard Marquita Daniels, who had 10 points against UF, leads the club offensively on the season with 10.3 ppg. Daniels also paces the Jaguars in assists (9) and steals (8).
Preseason all-conference selection Chyna Ellis leads the team on the glass. Her 9.3 rebounds per game lead the Sun Belt and she is averaging 6.3 ppg. Ellis is also tied with fellow sophomore LaNeetra Guillory for fourth in the SBC in blocks as they each have five.
As a team, South Alabama leads the league in that category with 5.3 per outing. The Jags are coming off a 10-block performance against the Gators, which were the most in a single-game since the '08-09 season.
Junior guard Colby Davis, who had nine points, five rebounds and four assists against Florida, is tied with Ellis with 6.3 ppg and shooting a team-best 55.0 percent from the field.
Alabama State comes into the contest versus the Jags after not having played a game since Nov. 24. In that outing, the Hornets fell to 1-3 on the year with an 80-54 loss at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets ran out to an 11-0 lead in the opening three-plus minutes of the game and eventually led 33-16 at the end of the first period of play.
Georgia Tech also stole the ball 18 times, scoring 29 points off of its turnovers. ASU is now averaging 22.0 turnovers per game. The Hornets committed 38 fouls and sent the Yellow Jackets to the line 51 times, where they converted 34 of those attempts.
Alabama State upset Southern last season in the SWAC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament.
"Alabama State always hangs its hat on playing hard at the defensive end of the floor," Fowler said. "That's their strength. They have a lot of players returning from their NCAA tournament team, so there is a lot of similarity there. They've added an outstanding shooter to their program, so that helps loosen up things at the offensive end of the floor. Defensively, they are playing a little more zone than they have in the past. It'll be interesting to see what type defense they play against us."
The Jaguars picked up a 64-61 win in Mobile over the Hornets last season. Breanna Hall's two free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining gave South Alabama the lead for good in that game and helped USA pick up the three-point victory.
Britney Wright is the lone player in double figures offensively for ASU this season. The 5-10 junior forward is averaging 11.3 points per outing and also leads the club on the glass with 6.3 rpg.
Senior center Jasmine Peeples ranks second in both categories on the Hornet roster. She is averaging 6.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg. Peeples also leads the team in shooting, knocking down 57.1 percent of her attempts.
Ashanti Spencer is third on the club offensively with 6.0 points per contest.
As a team, Alabama State is averaging 54.8 ppg, while surrendering 68.0 ppg to the opposition.
The Hornets have a 35.8 field-goal percentage and are shooting 28.3 percent from the three-point line.
Led by Peeples, who has six blocks on the year, ASU is averaging 4.5 per game.
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—
