MOBILE, Ala.- The South Alabama women's basketball team came up short despite a strong second half Wednesday night to James Madison at the Mitchell Center in a 76-62 final. 

The Jaguars and Dukes competed hard in the first quarter with no team gaining an advantage. Amyria Walker helped bring South closer to the lead as she drilled a three to make it a 10-8 affair at the halfway mark of the quarter. The Dukes offense would get hot as they went on a 15-6 run to close out the first. 

South Alabama's offense struggled to convert from the field as the second quarter began. James Madison capitalized on the Jaguar's shooting woes by playing high pressure defense and forcing turnovers. At the end of the half, South Alabama found themselves trailing 47-22. 

Despite another slow start to the quarter, South found their footing as Daniela Gonzalez and Rachel Leggett helped put a massive dent into the Duke's lead. The Jaguars for the remainder of the quarter continued to push the tempo and managed to cut the lead significantly as they entered the fourth down 60-41. 

South Alabama made a final push in the fourth by playing with high intensity as they finally found their rhythm shooting the ball. The Jaguars capitalized off the visitors' turnovers and converted on fast break opportunities as they cut the lead down to 14. Despite their best efforts, the Jaguars could not recover from their deficit in the first half as they fell in a 76-62 final. 

STATS

Daniela Gonzalez led the way for South with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and a career-high six steals. Rachel Leggett poured in 16 points and eight rebounds while Amyria Walker chipped in 15 points and five rebounds. 

QUOTES

Head coach Yolisha Jackson on the result, "These kids play hard and we have talked about the four non-negotiables in our program for this season which is our culture, making sure we compete, and making free throws and layups. We did that for about half the game with us getting off to such a bad start in the first half. We need to figure out how to get ourselves out of holes like that. Against the top team in the conference, we outscored them 40-29 in the second half but we just got ourselves into such a big hole. There are a lot of positives to take from it such as Daniela and Amyria playing well. With Terren being a freshman, she is really coming along. Our upperclassmen did an excellent job of coming off the bench and providing us something tonight so we are looking forward to continuing that trend. We have to find a way to put together four quarters and when this group figures it out we can really shock some people". 

UP NEXT

The Jaguars will stay at the Mitchell Center where they will take on ULM this Saturday at 2:00 PM. 

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