NEW ORLEANS, La. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team (19-12, 11-7 SBC) fell in a game that came down to the final possession against the fifth-seeded Troy Trojans (18-12, 12-6 SBC), 82-79, despite a furious fourth-quarter comeback.
 
Down by 11 with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter, South Alabama went on a 21-9 run, culminating with a Shaforia Kines layup, to take its first lead since the second quarter, but Troy regained the lead 15 seconds later on a three-pointer made by Jasmine Robinson giving Troy a 77-75 edge.
 
After Kines went 1-of-2 at the charity-stripe, the Trojans made 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and lead by four with 30 ticks on the clock. Jayla Morrow made a spot-up three-pointer to pull the Jags within one, 79-80, with 20 seconds remaining in the ballgame.
 
Troy made a pair of free-throws and the Jags advanced the ball beyond half-court with a timeout and 20 seconds left. Chyna Ellis attempted a three, but it was blocked out of bounds by Sky'Lynn Holmes with 12 seconds on the clock.
 
Kines took the inbound pass, missed a three-pointer and got the offensive-rebound with four-seconds remaining. She kicked the ball out to Genesis Perryomond on the wing, but the deep three-point attempt was missed at the buzzer.
 
Perrymond led all players with 21 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. The 21 points tied a career-high for the senior guard set on Dec. 31, 2016, against Troy at the Mitchell Center. Perrymond shot 9-of-13 from the field, making a three-pointer, dishing out four assists and recording a steal in the loss.
 
Ellis collected 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season and the 29th of her career. The senior went 6-for-10 from the field, made all six of her free-throw attempts, had five assists and rejected five shots.
 
Antoinette Lewis had 15 points on a 7-for-13 shooting day. Lewis scored 13 of her 15 points in the second-half, including nine in the fourth quarter. The freshman also had three assists and three blocks.
 
Kines made up four Jags in double-figures with 10 points, going 4-for-8 from the field. The guard also collected five rebounds, had three helpers and three takeaways.
 
The Trojans had five players with 10 or more points, led by Harriet Winchester with 15 of the bench. Troy out rebounded South Alabama 52-33 and made 28-of-30 free-throw attempts.
 
GAME FACTS
- USA jumped out to a fast start on an 18-7 run, ending with a Perrymond layup at the 5:21 mark in the first quarter to give South Alabama its largest lead of the game.
- Troy answered with a 9-0 run across the next 4:45, but the Jags led 20-16 after the first.
- The Trojans came back in the second quarter and took a five-point lead into the half after outscoring the Jags 20-11 in the quarter.
- Troy went on a 10-0 run in the middle of the third quarter to extend its lead to 13, its biggest lead of the game.
- The Trojans led 61-50 heading into the final frame.
- Troy had 23 second-chance points on 26 offensive rebounds, while USA had six second-chance points on eight offensive boards.
- South Alabama won points in the paint and points off turnovers 46-26 and 25-16, respectively.
- USA had 23 assists on 30 made field-goals, holding Troy to 25 makes from the field.
- The Jags shot 51.7 percent from the field, their best shooting percentage in a game this season.

NOTES
- Savannah Jones made one three-pointer tonight giving her 63 for the season, tying the program-record set by Johnita Conrad during the 1999-00 season for most makes from behind-the-arc by a freshman in a season.
- Lewis' three blocks give her 38 for the season and sole possession of third most by a freshman in a season in program history.
- This was the sixth time this season the Jags have had four score more than 10 points in game and it was the first loss in those games.
- Today was the fourth time South Alabama shot better than 50 percent from the field this season and did so in back-to-back games.
- The 46 points in the paint tied for the most in a game by USA this season.
- Ellis has 330 blocks for her career, including 99 this season.
- Perrymond collected her second 20-point game of her career, the sixth Jag to score more than 20 in game this season.
- This was the first time since Dec. 15, 2015, against Southern Mississippi that an opponent had five players with 10 or more points.
 
THEY SAID IT
USA head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "Great ballgame by both teams. We started out really great early. They [Troy] fought and got back in it with a great second quarter. The game went back-and-forth. A key swing was when we thought we had a foul on a three-point play, we go down to the other end of the floor and get a foul and a technical on us. It was a seven-point swing. I thought that was huge in the ballgame. They just did a great job of going up on the glass and pounded us on the offensive boards. We knew that's what they do. At the end of the ballgame we fought, took the lead and had every opportunity to get it tied up with three decent looks at the end. I couldn't be more proud of our ballclub. Our seniors are torn up, but I told them I hope we're not done yet and can get in some postseason play somewhere because we deserve it."
 
On the defensive game plan going into the game as Troy didn't make shots late: "Our urgency was better. Number one was we had to get over on their pick-and-roll. I thought we did a good job on getting over the ball, staying on their guards and our posts really helped us. Then we were able to recover and had good urgency. We picked up pressure late in the third and fourth quarter just from taking the ball away from their point guard and trying to get someone else to bring it up. They did a great job of iso-basketball. They put different people in different spots and took it to us. They got to the line to shoot 30 free-throws and we just fouled them too much. I thought we executed what we needed to execute other than rebounding. That's what they do better than anyone in the country."
 
UP NEXT
The Jaguars await hearing if they'll receive a post-season tournament bid. More information will be announced when it comes available.
 
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 South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—