MOBILE, Ala. – Savannah Jones sank two three-point field goals in the final 15 seconds of regulation — one of which led to a four-point play — to help the University of South Alabama rally from a 23-point deficit in the fourth quarter and earn a 78-76 double-overtime Sun Belt Conference victory over Texas State Saturday at the Mitchell Center.

She would finish with 24 points on 6-of-15 shooting from beyond the arc and add nine rebounds in the contest, while Antoinette Lewis recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards as the Jaguars improved to 10-10 overall and 5-3 in league play.  Jala Buster added 11 points for the Jags, with both Damaya Telemaque and Kennedi Centers chipping in with 10 points apiece.

Da'Nasia Hood and Brooke Holle also finished with double-doubles to lead the Bobcats (7-12, 0-8 SBC), as Hood posted 17 points and 14 rebounds while Holle ended up with 14 and 12, respectively.  Avionne Alexander and Kennedy Taylor scored 16 points each as well, with the latter handing out nine assists.

South Alabama 78, Texas State 76 (2ot) (box score)

GAME FACTS
-USA hit 3-of-15 (20 percent) attempts from the floor in the opening quarter and trailed 18-9 at the end of the first 10 minutes.
-The Bobcats ended the first half on an 8-1 run over the final three minutes and led 35-19 at the break as the Jags shot just 23.1 percent from the field prior to the intermission.
-TXST converted 61.5 percent of its attempts from the field in the third quarter to extend its lead to 56-35.
-An 11-0 run by the Jaguars midway through fourth period cut their deficit to 60-48, with the margin shrinking to single digits following a Telemaque layup with 1:39 to go in regulation.
-The Bobcat lead was still six with 26 seconds left, but Jones converted a four-point play at the 14 second mark then — after Hood sank one of two foul shots — hit another trey with four seconds on the clock to tie the contest.
-The Jags scored the first five points of the initial extra period, but Taylor responded with five points in a 30-second span to send the game to an additional five minutes.
-TXST led twice by a pair of points in the first half of the second overtime, however a leaning jumper from Jones with 18 seconds remaining provided the final difference.

NOTES
-The comeback — the Bobcats' largest lead was 23 points with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth period — was the biggest by the Jaguars in head coach Terry Fowler's seven-plus seasons in charge of the program.
-It's the first time since the series began during the 1993-94 season that the Jaguars have defeated the Bobcats in back-to-back contests; USA won the last match-up, 68-67, in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on March 13 last year.
-South has now won both of its games to go to overtime this year, having also defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 83-82 in double overtime on Nov. 14 in the Preseason WNIT.
-The Jags have made 10 or more three-pointers seven times during the 2019-20 campaign, winning five of those outings.
-It was the first occasion that USA has had five individuals with 10-plus points in a game since defeating Mobile on Nov. 26.
-Jones fell one point shy of equaling her best total of the year — she had 25 on Dec. 20 at East Tennessee State — while she matched a season high in rebounds last recorded in a defeat of Tennessee State on Nov. 30.
-The double-double was the 10th of the year for Lewis — who scored the 1,100th point of her career in the game — but it marked the first time since joining the program that she has accomplished the feat in three straight outings.
-Telemaque finished with a season-high nine rebounds while scoring in double figures for the first time since the Jaguars defeated ULM on Jan. 11.
-It was the first game that Buster has scored in double digits since posting 12 in South's Jan. 2 win over Appalachian State, while it was the third occasion this season that the sophomore guard/forward has connected on a pair of three-pointers.
-Centers also recorded a career high with a pair of three-point field goals as she scored 10-plus points in a game for the second time this year; the senior recorded 11 against Coastal Carolina on Jan. 4.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "We got off to another slow start — it was similar to the UTA game on Thursday — and we just didn't have anything going.  I thought we were getting shots, we weren't making them.  When we went into the locker room at halftime, I told them to keep believing, that we were getting the shots we wanted but they just weren't falling, and that we needed to get some stops on the other end.  In the fourth quarter things started happening for us, we really got after the offensive boards.  We wanted to continue to pound them on the glass and get some opportunities, then we found Savannah and she was in a rhythm; when they were sinking [in the post] on Antoinette we were able to get Savannah open shots that she made.  In double overtime we made a big stop at the end after a big shot by Savannah.  It was just a great team win."
On going to a press defensively in the fourth quarter: "They were dribbling out the clock and going late in the shot clock so we had to put up some pressure.  We felt that if we could get them to a spot where we were in striking distance that they would turn the ball over, they did and it gave us some opportunities to get some easy baskets quickly."
On the comeback: "As a coach when you walk into the huddle and your team is talking about 'We can do this, we believe, let's go' that is half the battle right there.  When we had that going I felt good as a coach.  We talk to our kids all the time about how the game is not over until triple zeroes are on the clock and the horn blows, until then you keep battling.  We did, it was chipping away to where we got ourselves in a position where we were in striking distance and from there we were able to strike.  [Assistant] Coach [Rachel] Travis did a great job on the scout, [Associate Head] Coach [Dan] Presel does all of our end-of-game stuff and everything he drew up worked.  We work on this stuff in practice, it was nothing new to us — we knew what to do."

Redshirt junior G Savannah Jones
On the two plays in the final seconds of regulation: "Our coaches prepared us for that moment, in practice we work on a lot of in-game execution.  That helped me be comfortable in that position, I just let it fly.  My coaches as well as my teammates believed in me, which made it easy to let it go.  It was a great feeling.  The thing about this team is we know how to fight."
On the team's ability to come back from the large deficit: "It's very important.  Coach told to us in the locker room that we didn't need to hit a 10-point play but that we needed to chip away, just keep fighting and believing in ourselves.  That's what we did, everybody came together.  We've been in this position before, it wasn't anything new for us."

Up next: USA is off for a week before travelling to Troy to take on the Trojans at 2 p.m. (CST) on Saturday, Feb. 1.

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).

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