Box Score - Little Rock 74, South Alabama 43 (.pdf)LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock jumped out to a 28-point halftime lead and shot 65.4 percent over the first two quarters as the University of South Alabama women's basketball team fell 74-43 Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center.
"We had talked with our team coming into the game about fighting in this game," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "Little Rock just came out and gave us a couple of blows in the first half and we didn't have an answer. In the second half, we challenged our players to come out and fight and I thought we did do that. We were able to get the ball inside and played with a little bit more poise and a little more focus. Little Rock is a top-notch program and they are getting things together. They are just playing with unbelievable physicality right now.
"We talked with our team in the locker room after the game about trying to make each other better this week in practice so that on game day there aren't any surprises for us. They've always answered our challenges to them, so I expect them to do that again in this week's practices."
The Jags (9-12, 5-7 SBC) will now return home to host Georgia State – the first for three-straight home games. Tip-off versus the Panthers is set for 5 p.m., Thursday night at the Mitchell Center. Live stats and both audio 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.
Colby Davis was the lone Jag to end the game in double figures as she recorded 15 in the loss. Davis posted her points on three field goals and a 9-for-10 showing at the foul line. Erin Autio chipped in with eight points of her own.
No other player had more than four points as the Jags were 13-for-40 from the field for 32.5 percent and turned the ball over 24 times. USA's 24 turnovers also led to 32 of Little Rock's 74 points.
With her two blocks, Chyna Ellis has now recorded two or more blocks in each of her last 14 games and 18 of her 21 games this season. Dating back to last season, she has multiple blocks in 29 of her last 34 outings.
The win was the fifth-straight for the Trojans and improved their record to 10-11 overall and 8-4 in the league. Shanity James posted her fifth 20-point outing in the win, finishing with a game-high 22 points. James was 7-of-9 from the field and hit eight of her 13 attempts at the foul line.
Alexius Dawn added 18 points of her own and was 4-for-8 from the arc, while Keanna Keys came off the bench to end the night in double figures with 10 points of her own. Keys had a perfect night shooting, hitting all three of her field-goal attempts and all four of her free-throws.
The Trojans were 26-for-50 from the floor for 52.0 percent and outscored South Alabama 34-14 in the paint. Little Rock – the league's top defensive rebounding team – also held a 32-21 advantage on the glass. The 21 rebounds were a new season low for the Jags, replacing the previous low of 27 recorded against UAB on Dec. 13. The 15 defensive rebounds by USA were also a new low (17, at UL Lafayette [1/21]).
The 43 points scored by South Alabama marked the seventh time this season that the club has been held below the 50-point mark. The 43 points was also the first time in the last three games in the series that USA has eclipsed the 40-point mark against the Trojans. South Alabama had been held to 37 points or less in each of the last three meetings. Little Rock has now held USA to 43 points or less in seven of the last eight meetings in the series dating back to the '12-13 season.
Marquita Daniels knocked down a three on USA's opening possession of the game, but following Daniels' bucket and two turnovers on its first two possessions of the game, Little Rock would go on to score on each of its net six possessions. James recorded seven of the Trojans' first 17 points and Townson – who dished out a career-high eight assists on Saturday – found Kaitlyn Pratt cutting back door for a layup to give Little Rock a 14-7 lead six minutes into the game.
The eight assists by Townson were also the second-most recorded by an opponent this season.
Dawn later gave the Trojans their largest lead of the first quarter when the senior drained a three-pointer from the left wing and then converted an and-one play with just over a minute to go in the opening period, extending Little Rock's lead to 20-9.
Little Rock shot 53.8 percent during the first 10 minutes of the contest and forced seven Jaguar turnovers, converting those opportunities into 11 points.
The Trojans kept the momentum and stretched their lead out further in the second, scoring the first 12 points of the period and hold USA without a point for the first six minutes, 40 seconds. During that time, the Little Rock defense caused more issues for the Jaguars as they missed their first seven shots and turned the ball over three more times, leading to six more Trojan points. James added four more points during the run and Keys scored the last six, extending the Little Rock advantage out to 32=9.
The Trojan lead would swell to as much as 28 in the closing seconds of the period as Townson intercepted a South Alabama pass and fed the ball out to Kira Shepard for a layup, putting Little Rock up 43-15.
Little Rock was 10-for-13 in the second quarter for 76.9 percent and forced six more turnovers by USA. The Jag offense struggled to get anything going in the first half as they were 6-for-22 (27.3) in the half and just 2-of-11 in the second.
The Trojans were 17-for-26 from the field over the first 20 minutes of play for 65.4 percent, which was a new season-high by a South Alabama opponent for any half, UL Lafayette's 59.3 field-goal percentage in the second half back on Jan. 21.
Dawn led all scorers with 14 first-half points as she was 5-of-8 from the field and James had 11 on 4-of-5 shooting.
The Jaguars attempted to try to get back in the game with an 8-0 run midway through the period. Autio and Davis combined to record all eight of USA's points during the run with Davis cutting the deficit to 21 after a pair of free throws at the 6:02 mark. Little Rock wouldn't let South Alabama get any closer though as Dawn drained her fourth trey of the contest at the other end of the floor to stop the Jag run.
Following Dawn's three-pointer, the Trojans would close the quarter on a 9-2 run over the final two minutes to extend their lead back out to 62-33. From there, the Little Rock lead would grow to as much as 37 in the fourth quarter.
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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