FLORENCE, Ala.- The Jaguars comeback bid came up just short Friday night in a tough 71-62 loss against North Alabama. 

In the opening quarter, the Lions jumped out to a fast 16-2 run as the Jaguar offense struggled shooting-wise. Rachel Leggett and Amyria Walker got the Jags offense warm with back-to-back shots to cut the lead to ten. The Jags would battle with the Lions heading into the second behind 20-8. 

South continued to struggle in the second as they fell behind 28-12 early in the quarter. The Jags would fight back with solid shooting from the charity stripe to go on a 7-0 run. The Jaguars continued to fight but would find themselves down 39-25 heading into halftime. 

The Jags would slowly start to cut into the lead in the third as their offense got hot. Naomi Smitherman provided solid minutes off the bench getting back-to-back layups to make it a single-digit affair. Amyria Walker would go on a scoring rampage for the remainder of the quarter, scoring 11 of South's 19 points in the third to head into the fourth trailing 55-48. 

The Jags offense stayed hot heading into the fourth, cutting the lead to just three. Rachel Leggett and Nadia Howard kept attacking the paint and converting to help the Jags stay in it. The Lions would unfortunately hit some late shots to put the game out of reach for South. The Jaguars continued to push but would unfortunately come up short in a 71-62 final. 

STATS

South shot 38.7% from the field as a whole. Amyria Walker led South in points with 21 on 9-16 shooting with Rachel Leggett chipping in 10 off the bench. Daniela Gonzalez controlled the glass with six points and 13 rebounds. Nadia Howard had an all-around effort, finishing with six points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

QUOTES
Head Coach Yolisha Jackson on the result, " I'm very disappointed in the result tonight. We came out extremely flat and you can't come out on the road and give up 20 points in the first quarter. I've got to find a way to make sure that we come out guns a blazing and ready to go. The way that our kids fought and battled was Jaguar basketball. That was how we want to play. We want to be scrappy and tough and we want to share the ball. Super disappointed, but we will get back to the practice floor to figure this out and make sure that the team I coach every day in practice shows up on game day".