MOBILE, Ala. – After winning both games last week the University of South Alabama women's basketball team will play in the Jacksonville Thanksgiving Classic.  The Jaguars will face North Florida in their first game on Friday at 11:00 a.m. C.T. and then the host Jacksonville the next day at 1:00 p.m. C.T.
 
Saturday's game will be televised on ESPN3, but the Friday game will not have any live video or audio stream.  Updates will be available on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com for both games.
 
The Jaguars responded after losing their first two games of the season on the road to No. 20/24 Florida (85-33) and UCF (70-58) with winning their home-opener against Spring Hill on Thursday 38-33 and then its first road win at New Orleans 65-62 last Saturday.
 
Against New Orleans the Jags entered the fourth quarter trailing by six points and outscored the Privateers 22-13 in the quarter.  The Jags started the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run to get their first lead since the middle of the second quarter.  New Orleans took back the lead with 2:41 left in the game on a free throw, but Candice Williams then knocked in two free throws for a lead that South Alabama held onto for the rest of the game.  South Alabama hit their free throws when it mattered most, making all attempts with less than two minutes left in the game and finished the game 13-16 at the line.
 
"Against New Orleans I felt like we improved defensively, especially down the stretch," said head coach Terry Fowler. "We were able to get the ball inside and then play off of that, which is what we want to do on offense.  Those two areas were key takeaways for me from that game.  Our team also just fought and clawed to get back in a tough stretch late in the game."
 
In her second career start Williams had game-highs and career-highs of 18 points, five steals and six assists in addition to four rebounds.  She didn't miss a shot in the second half, going 4-4 from both the field and the line.  Chyna Ellis scored 11 of her 14 points, grabbed six of her nine rebounds and had two of her three rejections and both steals in the half.  She went 5-9 from the field and only sat out three minutes in the half.
 
"Candice is not surprising any of us with her performance in the past two games," said Fowler.  "She makes tough shots.  Against New Orleans she made some shots with the shot clock winding down that were huge for us. There were some tough drives in the lane for shots near the basket.  She's now getting the repetitions during the game with expanded minutes."
 
"Other players stepped up for us this past game.  Shaforia Kines came off the bench and gave us some valuable minutes.  India Hall had played well for us against Spring Hill in the absence of Chyna Ellis.  They were both kids getting a feel for game action, and their success can help us down the road."
 
This will be the first ever meeting against Jacksonville and second ever against North Florida.  The Jaguars defeated the Ospreys 62-29 at home on Dec. 14, 2005.
 
 North Florida (3-2) is off to its best start in Division I. The last time the Ospreys opened the year with three victories was in 2004.  The Ospreys are coming off an 83-46 loss to Xavier on Tuesday.  North Florida has four players averaging double-figure point totals.  The Ospreys return 84% of their scoring from the 2015-16 squad that went 7-23, 3-11 for sixth place in the Atlantic Sun.
 
"North Florida is a very athletic team," said Fowler.  "They have good size on the perimeter with some tall guards, but are a little undersized in the post. They're a team that plays very hard and will basically have a home game against us.  It will be a tough game for us."
 
Redshirt junior Tesh Hanson earned back-to-back ASUN Newcomer of the Week awards and was selected as the league's Player of the Week after averaging 17.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in the Ospreys 2-1 week.  Junior Sierra Shepherd dished out a team-high seven helpers in the victory against the Warriors to help UNF reach 25 assists for the first time since 2013.
 
Jacksonville (2-2) enters the home tournament with a two game-losing streak after playing road games at No. 12 Florida State (90-47) and USF (64-52).  Against USF Sherranda Reddick finished the game with a team-high 18 points, and Kayla Gordon added nine.  The Dolphins are working a seven-game winning streak at home (dating back to last season).  Reddick leads the Atlantic Sun in scoring with 19.3 points per game, while Kimberly Dawkins has a conference-high 9.8 rebounds per game. 
 
The Dolphins selected to repeat as ASUN champions in the league's coaches' poll, Dawkins was named the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and Reddick, Christin Mercer and Kayla Gordon were tabbed to the preseason all-conference team.  The 2015-16 season featured Jacksonville's first-ever ASUN Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance as well as its third 20-win campaign and its first ASUN Newcomer of the Year.
 
"Jacksonville is a NCAA tournament team," said Fowler. "They are very well coached and have multiple kids who can score.  They can beat you in a lot of different ways.  You have to be solid, steady and on top of your game to have a chance at beating them.
 
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).