ATLANTA – Savannah Jones posted 17 points and six rebounds to help lead the University of South Alabama women's basketball team to an 81-64 Sun Belt Conference victory Thursday over Georgia State at the Georgia State Sports Arena.

Jones was 7-of-11 from the field highlighted by a 3-of-6 performance beyond the three-point arc as the Jaguars (8-9, 3-2 Sun Belt) picked up their second victory in a row.  Shaforia Kines, Antoinette Lewis and Mahogany Vaught each scored 10 points as well for South, with Kennedi Centers adding eight points and Jala Buster seven to go along with six rebounds.

Taylor Hosendove recorded 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead all players in both categories, while Taylor Henderson supplied 13 points for the Panthers (4-12, 1-4 SBC) as well.

South Alabama 81, Georgia State 64 (box score)

GAME FACTS
-USA opened the contest with a 7-0 run and led 22-19 after shooting nearly 53 percent from the floor in the first quarter.
-The Jaguars allowed GSU to make just 2-of-17 field-goal attempts — limiting the Panthers to only five points — in the second period to stretch their advantage to 37-24 at the half.
-The Jags were 4-of-6 from three-point range, shooting 60 percent overall, in the third period to extend their advantage to 60-35.
-South recorded a season-best 23 assists on its 33 made field goals, the second time in the last three contests it has been credited with a helper on at least half of its baskets.
-The Jaguars shot better than 50 percent from three-point range for the third time in five conference contests.
-USA has held the opposition below 40 percent from the field in eight of the last nine games after the Panthers finished 23-of-67 (34.3%) on the night.

NOTES
-Jaguar head coach Terry Fowler picked up his 300th career victory with the win.
-It's the first time USA has won consecutive outings since beating Mobile and Tennessee State on Nov. 26 and 30.
-It was the Jags' sixth straight win over the Panthers, extending their advantage to 11-6 in the all-time series.
-South shot better than 50 percent from the field for the second time this year, having also accomplished the feat in the Mobile win.
-Jones led South in scoring for the first time since posting a season-best 25 points in the team's final non-conference game at East Tennessee State on Dec. 20, while it marked the first occasion she has paced the program on the boards since the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on March 16 last winter.
-Not only did Vaught score her first points since the ETSU contest on a three with the shot clock about to expire for the final points of the opening half, she finished in double digits in the scoring column for the first time in her career.
-Kines scored in double figures for the fifth straight outing despite playing a season-low 10 minutes.
-Lewis has now scored 10 or more points in each of the last four games, and has shot better than 50 percent from the field in the last three of those contests.
-Jayla Morrow also posted season highs with seven points and four assists.
-Buster matched a career high in rebounds, sharing team-high honors in the category for the first time since joining the program.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "I thought we got off to a great start and that propelled us.  Something we've been talking about lately is starting fast and finishing strong, and I thought we did a really good job in the first quarter of getting out."
On the key to the team's offensive performance: "We moved the ball, we moved it with the dribble and were able to get into the paint and play off of that, we passed it around the arc and were able to find open shooters against their match-up zone and in their man-to-man defenses."
On the team's defense in the second and third quarters: "We have been talking about how we need to get better on the defensive end of the floor, that if we could cut out three baskets on the defensive end and get three on the offensive end that it would make a world of difference for us.  Tonight in the second quarter we did an outstanding job, and then we were able to run and get some easy baskets from that."

Redshirt junior G Savannah Jones
On her offensive performance: "I was just letting the offense flow and come to me instead of trying to rush or force anything.  My teammates believed in me as well as my coaches, that made it easier to just flow."
On the fast start both individually and as a team: "It was very important for us, our coaches have been telling us that we need to get off to faster starts early in the game.  When we did that tonight, we were able to maintain that momentum and it carried us to the win."

Up next: The Jaguars will remain the in the Peach State and take on Georgia Southern Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) in Statesboro.

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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