ARLINGTON, Texas – Shaforia Kines poured in 28 points and the University of South Alabama women's basketball team limited host and No. 3 seed UTA to just four second-half field goals to rally for a 55-47 victory in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Wednesday at the College Park Center.
Kines was 7-of-13 from the field — making 5-of-8 shots from beyond the three-point arc — and converted 9-of-10 foul shots to lead the Jaguars (16-16) into the semifinals of the tournament, where they are scheduled to face second-seeded Coastal Carolina on Saturday. Antoinette Lewis supplied a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Kennedi Centers was credited with 10 boards as well for the Jags.
Claire Chastain recorded 12 points and Aysia Evans added 10 for the Lady Mavericks (21-11), but USA limited Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year Marie Benson to only three points on 1-of-9 shooting from the floor. Katie Ferrell paced all players with 15 rebounds for UTA, adding a game-high five assists.
South Alabama 55, UTA 47 (box score)
GAME FACTS
-The Lady Mavs scored seven of the last eight points of the opening period to go ahead 17-12 after the first 10 minutes.
-USA shot just 28 percent in the first half, but a three from Kines just before the halftime buzzer cut the Jaguars' deficit to 34-26 at the break.
-The Jags went 7-of-11 from the floor in the third period, outscoring the Lady Mavericks by 12 to take a 45-41 edge to the last 10 minutes.
-That was close as UTA would get in the fourth quarter as South allowed the Lady Mavs to convert only 1-of-13 attempts in the period.
-The Jaguars were outrebounded 46-35 in the contest, but were plus-two on the boards over the final 20 minutes after UTA posted a 26-13 advantage in the category in the first half.
-South was charged with four more turnovers than the Lady Mavericks, yet it was able to finish with an 18-13 edge in points off turnovers.
NOTES
-It's the second straight season that USA has defeated the Lady Mavs at the Sun Belt Tournament after beating UTA 57-50 in the semifinals a year ago.
-This marks the first time since the first seven years of the event from 1983-89 that the Jaguars will be making a semifinal appearance in consecutive years.
-The Jags have now claimed six of their last seven SBC Tournament contests.
-With the win, South has matched its longest winning streak of the season; the Jaguars also won three straight games from Jan. 11-18.
-It's the first time since recording 11 steals in their last home game against Troy on Feb. 29 that the Jags have reached double digits in the category after they ended the night with 11.
-Kines has scored 10 or more points in each of the last 12 contests.
-It was the first time she's posted 20-plus points in back-to-back outings since accomplishing the feat from Jan. 2-9 in the Jaguars' first three conference games of the season.
-Lewis recorded her 16th double-double of the year, equaling the number of times she accomplished the feat her first two seasons with the program.
-It's the first time the junior has finished with 10-plus boards and rebounds in consecutive games since she did so in four outings in a row from Jan. 18-Feb. 1.
-It was Centers first time pulling down 10 or more rebounds in consecutive contests since USA played Arkansas State and Little Rock on Feb. 20 and 22.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "What a game, I am so proud of our young ladies. It was exactly what we expected coming in, we knew it was going to be a battle. At halftime they were up eight and the question we asked was, did we play well? Our kids said no, we knew it was our ball to start the second half so we wanted to go on a run to make it a ball game and that's exactly what we did. Sha played a heck of a game. We've played a zone the last three games, and that's not something we've done in my seven years here. Tonight we rebounded out of it, and we really made them get stagnant on the offensive end of the floor. We were able to go down and make plays and we knocked down our free throws in the end."
On defending Marie Benson: "We were helping off with our other post players, we sunk down and helped Antoinette on Benson. We said they were going to have to beat us with their perimeter game, we weren't going to let her get going on the inside."
On why the team's zone defense is working well: "First, no one has seen us play it; we've been here seven years and probably haven't played zone five percent of the time so it's caught people by surprise. And our kids believe in it, which makes it extra tough. It's been an element of surprise the last three games, whether that happens again in New Orleans I don't know."
On why the team has played well so far in the tournament: "Our kids are competitors, they compete every day. Sometimes we have to slow it down because they want to keep the score and clock and want a winner and a loser in everything we do. We haven't had the season we wanted, so this is our time. If we are going to do what we want to do, we have to do it now."
Senior G Shaforia Kines
On if she knew she was going to have a good game early: "My teammates believed in me and told me to keep going. This wasn't going to be our last game, so I just took it in and played hard."
On playing all 40 minutes: "I'm kind of tired, but we're going to rest up and be ready to go in New Orleans. I knew I didn't want this to be our last game so I had to play through it."
Up next: USA will meet Coastal Carolina at 7:30 p.m. (CDT) at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday.
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—
