Game 22 - vs. Georgia State Game Notes (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – With one month left in the regular season, the University of South Alabama women's basketball team will open a crucial three-game Sun Belt Conference homestand against Georgia State Thursday night.  Tip-off versus the Panthers is set for 5 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.  

With four weeks left in the regular season, this success during this stretch of home games will be important as South Alabama tries to secure a berth in this year's league tournament in New Orleans next month. The game against the Panthers will also be the beginning of a stretch in which USA will play five of its next six on its home floor.

"If you can win all of your home games and split on the road, you put yourself in situation to assure yourself a spot in the Sun Belt Conference tournament," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said.  "These three (home) games are huge for us.  Fortunately for us, we've been able to get some road wins this season.  We can't let those go for naught by giving them right back with these home games."

Live stats and web streaming for the contest versus the Panthers can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com.  Fans can also keep up with in-game updates by following action on the program's twitter account @SouthALWBB.  

In the first meeting between the two clubs earlier this season, South Alabama picked up a 60-52 victory in Atlanta, USA's first in the series on the Panthers' home floor.  Chyna Ellis and Juliann Miller each recorded career highs and combined for 35 points to lead the Jaguars in the win.  Ellis had 18 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, while also posting five of South Alabama's 10 blocks – the Jaguars' third 10-block outing of the season.  Miller had 17 points and connected on six of her nine shot attempts and four of her six free-throw opportunities.

The Jaguar defense also held GSU to 29.3 percent shooting and 18.2 percent shooting from the arc in the eight-point win.

South Alabama (9-12, 5-7 SBC) comes into play this week sitting in a four-way tie – Troy, Texas State and Appalachian State – for fifth place in the latest Sun Belt standings.  USA suffered a pair of road losses last week, falling at SBC leader Arkansas State (58-51) and at Little Rock (74-43).  The loss to the Red Wolves on Thursday snapped a three-game win streak for the club.

On Saturday, the Trojans led 43-15 at the half and shot 65.4 percent during the first 20 minutes of action en route to the victory.  Colby Davis led the Jaguars offensively in the loss with 15 points and was 9-of-10 at the foul line in the game.  The 15-point outing marked the third time in the last four outings for Davis that the junior guard has recorded double figures.

Over the last five games, Davis is averaging 12.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.  She has also shot 48.7 percent from the field, including 54.5 percent from beyond the three-point line during that stretch, while knocking down 17 of her 23 attempts (73.9%) at the charity stripe.  Davis has also dished out 18 assists (3.6 per game) and recorded 10 steals (2.0 per game) over the last five games.

Marquita Daniels leads the Jags offensively with 10.3 ppg.  She also has a team-best 33 steals (1.83 spg).

South Alabama currently leads the Sun Belt and is tied for seventh with Stanford in the NCAA in blocks, averaging 6.0 per game.   The Jaguars are also 26th nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.355) and 62nd in three-point field-goal defense (.284).  USA leads the league in field-goal percentage defense, three-point field-goal defense and on the defensive glass (27.4).  USA has 127 blocks on the season, which ranks as 14th-most in the NCAA.

Ellis is first in the Sun Belt and ranks 19th in the NCAA in blocks with 2.86 per game.  Her 60 blocks this season are fifth on South Alabama's single-season blocks chart.  Entering Thursday night's game, she is one blocks behind Adrian Vickers (61 – 1989-90) for fourth and two behind LaSandra Jenkins (62 – 1983-84) who sits in third.

The 6-2 sophomore center has recorded five or more blocks five times this season and in her 12 conference games this season, and is averaging 3.50 bpg.  She has had two-plus blocks in 18 of her 21 games, including each of the last 14.

Georgia State enters play this week sitting in ninth-place in the conference standings with a 9-12 overall record and a 4-8 mark in the SBC.  The Panthers have struggled as of late, losing three of their last four and five of their last seven since mid January.  During much of that stretch, GSU played without five players, including three starters.

Four of those players returned to the Georgia State lineup last week against Texas State, a 73-62 win over the Bobcats last Thursday.

One player that took advantage of the extra playing time with the depleted lineup was Haley Gerrin.  Over the last five games, Gerrin has averaged 10.4 ppg for GSU and also pulled down 6.4 rpg.  She has connected on 51 percent of her shot attempts during that same stretch.  Gerrin is averaging 5.8 ppg this season.

In its last outing, GSU suffered a 74-45 loss at home to UT Arlington on Saturday.  The Mavericks outscored the Panthers 24-9 and shot 66.7 percent in the third quarter to pull away.  

Offensively, Georgia State is led by Makeba Ponder who is averaging 13.1 ppg.  The preseason second-team all-SBC selection hasn't played in enough of GSU's games to rank among the conference leaders in that category, but her averaging would rank as ninth-highest were she eligible.  Ponder led GSU with 18 points in the first meeting versus the Jags, but was held to just five points in the second half.

GSU has a balanced offensive attack as four other players are averaging 7.6 points per game or better – Astaja Tyghter (8.9), Alayshia Mitchell (8.7), Madison Newby (8.6) and Tatianna Jackson (7.6).

"Georgia State is a super-talented team," Fowler said.  "They have the ability to really score.  We just have to defend them as well as we did at their place earlier this season and we have to be able to score against them.  They are a scary ball club.  Their record doesn't indicate how talented of a team they are.  They are capable of beating any team in this league."

Tyghter is also ninth in the Sun Belt in steals (1.9), 12th in field-goal percentage (.452) and 15th in rebounding (5.3).  The freshman forward has 32 steals on the year.

Both Ponder and Tyghter returned to the Panther lineup against Texas State last week after missing games due to suspension.  

Mitchell leads the Panthers on the glass and ranks 12th in the conference with 5.8 rpg.  She is shooting 42.5 percent from the field.  The 6-0 junior forward is also pulling down 2.8 offensive rebounds per game, which is fifth-most in the league.

Newby leads the Sun Belt in assists (103, 4.9 per game) and has 11 games with five or more assists.

Jackson scored 11 points on Saturday against UTA and had 18 points in her two outings last week after missing more than six weeks (12 games) for the Panthers.

As a team, GSU is second in the SBC in three-point field-goal defense (.292) and ranks third in scoring (65.4), steals (9.2), offensive rebounds (14.8) and rebounding offense (39.2).

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—