LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The University of South Alabama women's basketball team lost 44-47 amidst a highly contested fourth quarter to the first place Little Rock Trojans on Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark. 

The Jaguars ended the third quarter on an 8-0 run to make it a two-point game heading into the fourth. That run continued into the quarter and was capped off by a Mahogany Vaught steal and layup to put the Jags ahead 33-31 with eight minutes left to play. Tori Lasker hit a three for the Trojans to end the 12-0 run and give Little Rock back the lead. From there, the game went back and forth, with the Jags holding the lead for a total of five minutes in the final quarter. 

Ronjanae DeGray gave the Trojans the lead with just under three minutes to go and South Alabama did not regain control of the ballgame. Aided by four Jaguar turnovers, Little Rock went on a 7-0 run to turn a 39-36 South lead into a 43-39 advantage. South Alabama did not let up off the gas and turned the game into a one-point game several times over the final minutes of play, but the Trojans went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in crunch time to seal the deal. 

Antoinette Lewis fouled out of the game on an offensive foul with 2:24 left in the game, but not before collecting her sixth double-double of the season. Lewis put up 15 points and 11 rebounds. For Little Rock, DeGray matched Lewis with a game-high 15 points, and brought down 11 boards of her own to notch her fifth double-double on the season, and second against South this year. 

The Jaguars move to 17-5 on the season and 6-5 in the Sun Belt, while Little Rock remains in first place with a 10-1 conference record. 

GAME FACTS
- Little Rock started the game out on a 9-0 run before the Jaguars countered with a 10-0 run of their own in the first quarter. The Trojans then went on an 8-0 run in the second and held the Jaguars to just seven points in the quarter, en route to taking a seven-point lead into halftime. 
- South Alabama shot 6-for-33 (18.2 percent) in the first half before finding their rhythm from the floor and connecting on 13-26 (50.0 percent) in the second half. The Jaguars shot a season-low 32.2 percent from the floor along with 20.0 percent from behind the arc. The Jags connected on two three-pointers in the first quarter and did not hit another one until the fourth quarter. All told, the Jaguars went 3-for-15 from behind the arc, and Savannah Jones hit all three of those.
- Jones finished with 13 points and three rebounds in the game and shot 5-for-13 from the floor. 
- Shaforia Kines tied a season-low with four points, but contributed with nine rebounds and seven assists. Kines and Jones both played a career-high 38 minutes for the Jags. 

NOTES
- With the loss, the Jaguars are now 12-19 all-time vs. the Trojans, and finish the Sun Belt regular season 0-2 against Little Rock. 
- South Alabama is the leading three-point team in the Sun Belt with 7.6 made threes per game. In wins, the Jaguars are averaging 8.3 made per game while putting up just 4.4 per game in losses. 
- Vaught played 11 minutes of action tonight, one shy of her career-high 12 set vs. Faulkner. The freshman guard went for four points on 2-for-5 shooting. 

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
On the game: "Proud of the way we responded, especially coming off of Thursday night's game. We had this one in the palm of our hands. We let it slip away, but hopefully we can learn from this and bring it into the next ones. This is the best team in the league right now and we took them down to the wire. We had every opportunity to come out on top. We have to take the positives from this game and be ready to move forward." 

On moving forward: "Just continue to improve and get better. We played today's game without Jayla Morrow who is attending her high school coach's funeral so we were a player down. Mahogany Vaught and India Hall played one of their better games, definitely her (Hall) best conference game. We need to be able to keep Antoinette Lewis on the floor and keep her out of foul trouble." 

UP NEXT
South Alabama returns to the Mitchell Center to take on Georgia Southern on Thursday, Feb. 14. Tip-off vs. the Eagles is slated for 7 p.m. in Mobile, Ala.

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).

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

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