MOBILE, Ala. – Antoinette Lewis recorded a double-double to lead four University of South Alabama women's basketball players with 10-plus points as the Jaguars opened the 2018-19 season with a 75-57 win Wednesday over Spring Hill at the Mitchell Center.

Lewis paced the Jags with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Savannah Jones scored 15 points, Shaforia Kines added 14 and Damaya Telemaque chipped in with 12 in her collegiate debut.  South connected on 11 three-point fields while posting 12 blocked shots on the other end of the court.

Tiffany Valentine scored a game-high 22 points for the Badgers and Tiffany Stokely contributed 10, while Daja Walker led SHC with seven boards.

GAME FACTS
- SHC recorded the first six points of the contest — the Jaguars didn't score their first basketball until nearly four minutes into play —with South taking the lead for the first time on an Alexis Sykes with three with three-and-a-half minutes left in the period.
- Despite committing 10 turnovers in the quarter, the Jags led 13-8 after 10 minutes thanks to a 7-0 run over a stretch of almost four minutes.
- The Jaguars broke open the game with nine unanswered points in a 66-second span early in the second quarter, extending their lead to 34-20 at the half.
- South was ahead 56-41 at the end of three quarters after connecting on 4-of-9 attempts from three-point range in the period.
- The Jags limited SHC to just 37.7 percent shooting from the floor, including holding the Badgers to 26.7 percent in the first half.
- USA held a 56-32 rebounding advantage, including grabbing 24 of those on the offensive end.

NOTES
- It was the 19th straight win over the Badgers for the Jaguars, who now have a 32-3 edge in the all-time series.
- South improved to 36-9 in home openers with the victory.
- Kines has scored 10 or more points on 16 occasions since the beginning of last year, and she also led all players with seven assists while committing only one turnover.
- It was the fourth career double-double for Lewis, who has scored in double digits 12 times since the start of last season.
- Both Christen Carter and Kennedi Centers finished the night with career-high rebounding totals after recording 10 and seven, respectively.
- Jones was 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc, falling one trey shy of matching her career high.
- The Jaguars have blocked 10 or more shots in two straight contests having posted 11 rejections at Yale in the season finale last winter to go along with tonight's performance.
- It also marked the second outing in a row that South has connected 10-plus three-pointers after finishing the night 11-of-32 from long range.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "It's good to get the season started off with a win.  We didn't play particularly well, we weren't as efficient or execute as well as we can, we turned the ball over so much and our free-throw shooting was poor; I was really disappoint in that.  But, I was really pleased with how we dominated the boards.  Elise Riley had 33 against Nicholls in their exhibition game, but we held her down.  We just have to take this one and move on.  It's always good to win at home, but we have to get ready for Southern Miss next."
On the team's defense: "We did a good job.  There is a reason that Tiffany Valentine is the player of the year in the SIAC, she is really tough for us to guard in there.  But we are starting to buy in and play defense like we are capable of playing.  We held them to 57 points, we were matching up with their best perimeter players and were also playing great team defense and shrinking the floor.  If we can rebound the ball like we did tonight, get those possessions and get out on the run, and take care of the basketball we can be pretty successful."
On preparing for Southern Mississippi: "We have to get back to the basics.  We have basically a week to work on fundamentals — catching with two hands, stopping with two feet and finding the open player.  And we have to get to the free-throw line and work on our free throws, that will be paramount this next week because we can't beat anyone shooting 33 percent [four the foul line] and turning the ball over 24 times."

Sophomore G Shaforia Kines
On scoring seven of the team's nine points in a stretch midway through the third quarter: "Credit goes to my teammates, I would get open and they passed me the ball.  On the layup, Jayla [Morrow] saw me and passed it.  But I was just open."
On the team's pace of play: "It was really fun, but we go way faster in practice and I think we could've gone faster today.  We got off to a rough start, but we finished."

Up next: Southern Mississippi will visit the Mitchell Center next Wednesday, with tip off scheduled for 7 p.m. (CST).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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