NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama women's basketball faces second-seeded Texas-Arlington in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.  The winner advances to the semifinals of the conference tournament and will take on either third-seeded Troy or 11th-seeded Arkansas State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
 
Fans can watch the game on ESPN3 through ESPN.com/WatchESPN, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Texas-Arlington will mark the 10th in the all-time series between the two clubs, and the Mavericks hold a 6-3 record in the series.  Texas-Arlington defeated South Alabama twice this season: 53-41 on Feb. 25 at home and 73-49 in the Mitchell Center on Jan. 12th.
 
The two teams split the season series last year with the home team prevailing for the win in the two games.  The Jaguars won 59-55 on Jan. 16th, and the Mavericks won 53-49 on March 3rd.  South Alabama swept the season series in the first year (2013-14) they played each other as Sun Belt opponents, and both games were overtime victories for the Jags.  Texas-Arlington swept the series the next season.  Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler and fourth-year Texas-Arlington head coach Krista Gerlich have led the schools for all eight meetings as Sun Belt opponents.
 
South Alabama topped seventh-seeded Georgia State 49-44 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.  With the game tied up at 43-43, Colby Davis made her only basket in the second half to put the South Alabama ahead with 41 seconds left as the Jags outscored the Panthers 7-1 to end the game.
 
South Alabama prevented Georgia State from making a field goal in their last four possessions of the game.  Candice Williams hit a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, and Georgia State made it back into a one-possession game with a free throw five seconds later.  Genesis Perrymond missed both free throw attempts with 12 seconds left, and a Panthers' three fell short.  Chyna Ellis grabbed the rebound and made both attempts at the charity stripe with three seconds to seal the win.
 
The Jags shot 37.5% (18-48) from the field and 27.8% (5-18) from three and held the Panthers to 24.1% (14-58) from the field and 33.3% (5-15) from three.  Although the Jags lost the turnover battle 19-17, they finished with 15 assists.  South Alabama's starters combined for all but one point scored.  Davis scored 12 of her 14 game-high points in the first half.  Ellis recorded 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, a game-high four blocks and an assists.  Perrymond also got in double-figures (12 points) in scoring and also had six defensive rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
 
With four rejections against the Panthers, Ellis now has 91 blocks this season, increasing her single-season blocks record.  She had five rejections in the previous game against Arkansas State to reach 87 blocks on the year, surpassing LaSandra Jenkins' 86 rejections set in 1983.
 
Ellis became the schools' all-time leader in career blocks after recording a game-high and season-high six rejections five games ago against Coastal Carolina that gave her 212 career rejections, passing Jenkins' (1982-85) 210 blocks.  With one block at Texas-Arlington she moved into third place among all-time career rejections in the Sun Belt Conference.  Now at 229 career rejections she needs just 51 more to become the all-time leader in blocks for the conference.
 
She enters the game averaging 3.1 rejections per game that tops the Sun Belt and ranks seventh in the NCAA.  She has recorded a block in each game played this season and is ninth in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots.  Her total number of blocks this season are more than seven of the schools in the conference have as a team, and her average rejections per game is greater than seven teams' average.
 
Texas-Arlington (21-7, 14-4) enters the game as the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament after finishing two games ahead of third place Troy.  The Mavericks ended the season on a four-game winning streak and won six of their last seven games.  Texas-Arlington was 7-2 in conference games at home and on the road.
 
In the SBC Texas-Arlington ranks first in steals (11.0 spg), assist/turnover ratio (0.9), assists (16.0 apg) and turnover margin (+4.7 tpg), second in scoring margin (+9.1 ppg), scoring offense (69.4 ppg), field goal percentage (42.0%) and third in three-point field goal percentage (32.5%), three's made (6.3 per game) and rebounding margin (+2.3).  The Mavs are second-to-last in three-point field goal percentage defense (33.6%) and third-to-last in defensive rebounds (22.9 rpg).
 
First team all-conference junior center Rebekah VanDijk ranks among one of the top post players in the league.  VanDijk places second in scoring (15.8 ppg), field goal percentage (56.6%) and offensive rebounds (3.9 rpg), third in rebounding (9.1 rpg), fifth in defensive rebounds (5.2 rpg) and sixth in blocked shots (1.4 bpg).  Defensive player of the year and second team all-conference junior guard Cierra Johnson also ranks among the best guard players in the conference, leading the Sun Belt in steals (3.0 spg) and placing seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.2), eighth in assists (3.2 apg) and field goal percentage (44.8%), 12th in scoring (12.1 ppg) and 15th in rebounding (5.9 rpg).
 
Junior guard Christiana Devers is the third Maverick to average double-digits in scoring (11.0 ppg) and also ranks 12th in three-point field goals made (1.4 per game) and13th in steals (1.6 spg).  Freshman guard Ericka Mattingly has been an efficient guard all season, ranking in the league second in steals (2.3 spg), third in assists (3.9 apg) and eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.2).
 
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).
 
Join the Hardwood Club, the women's basketball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All gifts to the Hardwood Club go directly to support the South Alabama women's basketball program. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/sports/2013/3/13/Hardwood%20Club.aspx?id=28