NEW ORLEANS, La. — The University of South Alabama women's basketball team defeated the two seeded UT Arlington Lady Mavs, 57-50 in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Lakefront Arena to advance to the program's first title game since 1989.
South Alabama led for the majority of the ballgame but UTA held it close and tied it up with just over two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Savannah Jones hit a three-pointer from the corner with 59 seconds left to play that put the Jaguars up by six and UTA was forced to begin fouling. Jones and Jayla Morrow combined to go 4-for-4 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the game for the Jags.
The Jaguars went on a 6-0 run in the third and Kennedi Centers hit a layup down low to stretch the Jaguars lead to nine heading into the fourth quarter. The Lady Mavs did not go away quietly and eventually evened things up at 46. The Jaguars went on a four-minute long scoring drought that allowed UTA to climb back into the game, but Antoinette Lewis hit a bucket to give South the lead back at 48-46 and UTA was never able to take a lead.
Lewis finished with a game-high 22 points, six rebounds, and four blocks in the game. The sophomore forward/center, went 9-of-13 from the floor for the Jaguars. Jones finished with 14 points and went 4-for-5 from behind the arc to hit all but one of South Alabama's three-pointers on the afternoon.
The Jags improve to 24-9 on the season and have tied the program high for wins set previously by the 1983-84 and 1986-87 teams.
GAME FACTS
South Alabama got off to an early lead on the UTA Lady Mavs in today's contest. The Jaguars led UTA 14-11 at the end of the first and maintained their lead going into halftime with a four-point advantage. Lewis dominated down low in the first half and had 17 points at the break. For the game, the Jaguars had 30 points in the paint compared to UTA's 14.
The Jaguars shot 21-of-46 (.457) from the floor and 5-of-19 (.263) from three today, while holding UTA to shooting 19-of-59 (.322) from the floor and 6-of-20 (.300) from behind the arc. The Jags held UTA's leading scorer, Cierra Johnson, to just 3-of-10 from the floor and eight points.
The Jags were out rebounded by the Lady Mavs 27-39 and 5-19 on the offensive side of the glass. South's defense held its own though, holding UTA to just 12 second-chance points off of these offensive boards. South Alabama is now 10-8 on the season when being beaten out on the glass.
Junior guard, Shaforia Kines continued to crash the boards for the Jaguars. Kines brought in eight rebounds and added 10 points and 4 assists for the Jags.
NOTES
South Alabama avenged its 21-point loss to UTA in the regular season back on Feb 28. The Jags are now 5-8 all-time vs. the Lady Mavs and have defeated UTA in the conference tournament for the first time. The two teams have now met twice in the tournament.
This is the Jags first Sun Belt Tournament title game since 1989. South Alabama is 0-3 all-time in championship and will be making the program's first appearance since 1989. The Jaguars fell to Western Kentucky in that matchup, 54-67.
South has won four games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in program history.
THEY SAID IT
HEAD COACH TERRY FOWLER
Opening Statement: "Man, I'm so excited for our young ladies. We've been talking about this since the beginning of the year, and to actually get there is a big deal. I'm just excited for them. UTA is a great basketball team, well-coached. I thought we came out and got some baskets early. We had some confidence going. We knew they would fight, they would come back. They went to the 1-3-1 defense, and we struggled with that. (We) made a few adjustments and were able to make key plays when we needed to – total team effort. We lost Damaya Telemaque to an injury yesterday. Savannah Jones comes back today and hits big shot after big shot. It was just great, a total team effort.
On the final minute and what he told his team during the timeout: "The main thing was, 'Let's make sure we don't foul and make sure we rebound the basketball.' They were already in the bonus, and we didn't need them scoring points with the clock not running. Let's not foul. Let's continue to contest all shots, and let's get a rebound. Then from there, we knew they had fouls to give, but they were going to have to foul."
On the adjustments made after losing to UTA this season: "In the first game, they had 31 points on our 26 turnovers. That was the big difference. I don't have a stat sheet in front of me, but I'm sure that wasn't the number. It felt like at their place, we were able to get open looks when we took care of the basketball. Today, we did and we had a great presence with Antoinette Lewis. She had 17 first half points. So they go to the zone to try to combat her, and we were able to get some open three's. So, I thought that was the big difference."
UP NEXT
No. 7 South Alabama will meet the one seed Little Rock Trojans in the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday, March 16. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, La.
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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