MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball will look for its first Sun Belt win at home against Georgia Southern on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.  The game will be a part of a doubleheader, with the men's teams playing afterwards
 
ESPN3 will be broadcasting the game, and fans can watch the game through ESPN.com/WatchESPN, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
Like the Jaguars did for the Georgia State game, they will be an active participant in Coaches vs. Cancer as the entire Sun Belt Conference will be participating in Suits and Sneakers week.  The Sun Belt teams are unifying in showing support for Appalachian State head coach Angel Elderkin, who is currently fighting to defeat endometrial cancer after being diagnosed with the cancer during the summer, by raising awareness and collecting donations towards cancer research, along with the local staff from the American Cancer Society.
 
Elderkin finished her final treatment in November and was announced as the co-recipient with ESPN's Holly Rowe of the USBWA Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award and will be honored at the women's Final Four in Dallas in April. Coaches and staff members will wear sneakers with their suits, and all teams will be wearing gold shoelaces and also t-shirts dedicated to this cause in warm-ups and on the bench.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Georgia Southern will mark the 13th in the all-time series between the two clubs, and the series is tied with each school having six wins.  The two schools have split the season series twice since the Eagles entered the Sun Belt Conference in the 2014-15 season.  The Jaguars won the last meeting 55-46 in Statesboro, Ga. on Jan. 5 and the last game at home 48-45 on Feb. 13th last year.  Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler is 3-2 against the Eagles, and second-year Georgia Southern head coach Kip Drown is 1-2 against the Jaguars.
 
South Alabama won its Sun Belt Conference road-opener in the victory at Georgia Southern earlier this year.  Trailing by one point with 3:12 left in the game, the Jaguars went on a 9-1 run to secure the victory. In a back and forth game the Jags entered the fourth quarter leading 38-34, and Erin Autio and Colby Davis stretched the lead to eight points on two jumpers in the first two possessions of the quarter.  The Eagles responded with a 9-0 run that was over five minutes long to reclaim the lead.
 
Autio hit a jump shot to start the late Jags' run and give them the lead for good.  Autio then made a layup on the next possession off an offensive rebound.  Chyna Ellis made a layup after gathering up her own missed shot with 1:24 remaining.  Camryn London converted a three-point play on with 47 seconds left.  Autio and London both hit a pair of free throws to ice the game. London had her first ever double-digit scoring game with a game-high 17 points on 6-14 shooting that included two three-pointers.
 
The Jags took advantage of the Eagles' zone defense and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds for nine more second chance points (16-7).  Ellis recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds and also had a team-high three blocks.  Autio also had 11 points and needed just more rebound for her own double-double.
Ellis enters Saturday's contest averaging 2.9 blocks per game that tops the Sun Belt and ranks 13th in the NCAA.  She has recorded a block in all 18 games played this season and is 16th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (52).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than five of the schools in the conference have as a team and tie another team's totals.
 
With sole possession of second place in the program's all-time career blocks, she would need to average 1.9 per game the rest of the year to become the all-time leader in rejections by the end of this season.  With 52 blocks she is already tied for eighth most blocks in a season in program history.  She is also on pace for 84 rejections this season, which would surpass her blocked shot total (82) from last year and be two short of LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) single-season blocks record of 86 in 1983.
 
Georgia Southern (7-12, 3-5) enters the game having won three of its past five games after starting 0-3 in Sun Belt play.  With a 3-5 record in the Sun Belt Conference, the Eagles are tied with Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina for sixth in the conference standings.  Georgia Southern has the top field goal percentage defense (36.6%) and rank second in defensive rebounds per game (26.5) and three's made per game (6.9).
 
Senior guard Angel McGowan is currently in the top-20 in program history in several categories, including the top-10 of three. With her 23 points against Troy, McGowan jumps into 12th all-time for points scored (1,264).  McGowan is also now 7th in steals (174) and fourth in three-point field goals attempted (478) and in three-point field goals made (138).  This season she is third in scoring in the SBC (15.5 ppg), fifth in three's made (1.8) and 12 in three-point field goal percentage (34.4%).
 
Junior Sierra Butler is currently in 17th in school history with 36 blocks. Butler sets her sights on Shawnda Atwood in 16th place all time with 41 career blocks.  Senior Patrice Butler scored her 1,000th career point against South Alabama in the previous meeting this season. Butler has averaged 15.4 points per game, leading the team and ranking fourth in the SBC.  Butler is one of the top shooters in the league, ranking fourth in field goal percentage (46.3%) and free throw percentage (85.2%), fifth in three-point shooting (38.3%) and eighth in three's made per game (1.6).  Butler is also eighth in blocked shots (0.9 bpg) and 11th in rebounding (6.8 rpg).  Her sister junior forward Sierra Butler is just above her at eighth in rebounding (6.9 rpg).
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
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).