NEW ORLEANS, La.  — The University of South Alabama women's basketball team came up one-point short of capturing its first Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship with a 56-57 defeat to the Little Rock Trojans on Saturday afternoon at the Lakefront Arena. 

In a back-and-forth contest all the way to the wire, the Jaguars gained possession down by one point with nine seconds left on the clock. Shaforia Kines took the ball up court for South Alabama and dished it to Devyn Lowe who launched a three-pointer with one second on the clock, right in front of the Jags bench. The three came up just short for the Jaguars and Little Rock came away with the win, and the NCAA tournament bid. 

The title game featured seven ties and 11 lead changes between the two programs. Little Rock went up by as many as 10 in the second quarter, with the Jaguars going up by as many as three at multiple points in the game. South Alabama edged out the Trojans in both the second and third quarter, and the game was tied up at 45 heading into the final quarter of action. Little Rock emerged victorious on what was a game-winning field goal by Kyra Collier with 1:09 on the clock. 

Kines played 25 minutes for the Jaguars this afternoon. The junior guard, got into foul trouble and had to sit for the majority of the third quarter. Freshman, Mahogany Vaught played well in her absence and hit a crucial bucket late in the third that tied the game up. Kines finished with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting and was named to the All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the game. Antoinette Lewis joined Kines, as the two representatives for the Jags on the All-Tournament team and went for a team-high 16 points and brought down eight rebounds. 

The Jags move to 24-10 on the season and played in their first Sun Belt Championship game since the 1988-89 season. 

GAME FACTS
South Alabama had seven turnovers in the first quarter which allowed the Trojans to outscore the Jaguars, 18-13 and take an early lead. The Jags took better care of the ball throughout the remainder of the game and finished with 20 overall. Little Rock had 11 turnovers for the game but both teams wound up relatively even on points off of those turnovers, with the Trojans outscoring the Jags 12-9 respectively. 

South Alabama shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter tied up with Little Rock at 45. The Jags shot .369 from the floor and .385 from the three-point line for the game, while the Trojans shot .377 from the floor and 1-of-3 (.333) from behind the arc. 

Ronjanae and Raeyana DeGray were big down low for the Trojans today. Ronjanae finished up with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Raeyana posted nine points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and five offensive boards. Little Rock beat out the Jags 38-26 in the paint, but the Jags out-rebounded the Trojans and posted 13 second-chance points to the Trojans five. 

Collier hit the game winning shot for the Trojans, and went for a game-high 21 points on 9-of-27 shooting. 

NOTES
This was the fourth Sun Belt Championship game appearance for South Alabama in program history. This team won four games in the conference tournament, a feat that has never been done before by the Jaguars women's basketball program. 24 wins on the season ties the most ever by this program. 

The Jaguars fell to 0-3 vs. Little Rock on the season, playing the Trojans better each time they faced off against them. South fell to the Trojans by 23 points back on Jan. 12, by three on the road on Feb. 9, and by one today. 

Starter Jayla Morrow left the game with an undisclosed injury with 7:22 left to play in the first quarter and did not return. 

Kines averaged 14.6 points per game in the Jaguars five conference tournament games, and posted 23 points in the Jags quarterfinal win vs. Troy on Thursday afternoon. Lewis posted 17 points per game and led the Jags with a 22-point effort against UT Arlington in the semifinal victory on Friday. 

THEY SAID IT
HEAD COACH TERRY FOWLER
Opening Statement: "First of all, congratulations to Little Rock. They do a great job. They've been here, but we fought. Tough one. Tough one, man. Our kids are in there crying their eyes out, because it means something to them. I couldn't be more proud of this group. They represented our university with first class. (They) represented our athletic department and the city of Mobile. The good news for us is hopefully this is not the last game and we'll get some postseason play."

On the fight in his team: "We knew the challenge that was before us. We did not come here to play one game, two games. It seemed like we kept getting energy everyday as we got closer to our goal. Our training staff and strength/conditioning staff did a great job of getting our kids back ready to play. Then throughout the tournament, we still lose two players. This group, all year, had a spirit about them. If you didn't see us play all year, you got a chance to see what it was about."

On the rotations that came into play with Shaforia Kines in foul trouble: "Well, Jayla Morrow went down. That was our backup point guard. So we went to a freshman, Mahogany Vaught who actually played pretty well at Little Rock when we played there. Our rotations were kind of off. You know, Mahogany had not played in probably the last eight ballgames. But it was next player up. That is what it has been all year with this group. It has been when you name is called, they stepped up. I thought we got a little winded, but we kept getting a second wind and kept fighting. What else could you ask for? To start the fourth quarter, it was a tied ballgame. Basically, it was a ten minute ballgame. It was like we just came out of the locker room, and we are going to play for ten minutes. They scored one more point than we do – just a great effort."

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

—USA—