Lady Jags victory over WKU

Bowling Green, Ky. (WALA) - The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team rallied from an eight-point half time deficit to capture the program’s first-ever road victory over Western Kentucky Saturday afternoon, 56-52, at E.A. Diddle Arena. The game was also WKU’s WBCA “Pink Zone” game.

“Western Kentucky clearly had more energy than us in the first half,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “I can tell you from personal experience that when women’s teams wear pink (uniforms), it energizes them. I knew (Western Kentucky) was going to have a lot of energy in the first half and our kids didn’t have the energy to meet theirs and that’s why it was an eight-point game at halftime. The good news is that we just had a burst at the start of the second half. It wasn’t an X’s and O’s issue. It was just a desire problem. If we weren’t going to find that desire, we weren’t going to win. Fortunately, our kids showed they had some desire in the second half. Even after Western had come back and retaken the lead for us, we were able to make enough plays down the stretch. A lot of different players did it for us too. It wasn’t just one. We had a lot step up and do a bunch of different things.”

The victory was also the 200th--career win at USA for Pietri. The Jaguar alum also sits just one win shy of reaching the 100-SBC win mark for his career.

“When you reach 200 wins, you obviously have to have a lot of help from assistant coaches, a lot of young woman who have played for you, a lot of training staff and managers,” Pietri said of the career mile-stone. “Clearly, it’s something that I have pride in and that I’ve been able to last long enough to win 200 games. It’s more exciting for our program than me. As we continue to recruit, we can talk about the fact that this is a program that has been successful and when young women come here and join us, that I’m going to be here and if they come here to South Alabama, they are going to have a chance to win some games.”

With the win, the Lady Jags improve to 14-9 overall and 7-4 in the SBC. USA will now return home to host Arkansas State on Wednesday. Tip-off versus the Red Wolves is set for 7:05 p.m. Western Kentucky falls to 6-16 on the season and 3-7 in the league.

Sarda Peterson was one of three players to finish in double figures for the Lady Jags, recording a game-high 16 points – nine coming in the second half, including five during the final 31 seconds of the game.

“Her three in the corner was the nail (in the coffin for Western Kentucky),” Pietri said of the senior’s big late basket. “Western Kentucky had played mostly zone since the midway point of the second half, but there they had gone back to man-to-man for that possession and we were able to get some penetration just to get her free in the corner. They were running at her, but she just gutted up and put it up and hit a big shot. That was the separation right there. Plus, it was an energy basket to give our team even more energy to guard at the defensive end.”

Peterson was 5-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-7 from the arc in 33 minutes of action. The double figure scoring game was her third-straight and seventh in her last 10 outings.

Mary Nixon was 6-of-15 from the field and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for USA. Taylor Ammons added 10 points of her own and also pulled down 7 boards.

WKU was led by LaTeira Owens’ 14 points and nine rebounds. Owens was 5-of-8 from the floor, but recorded just four points after halftime. Alexis Govan had eight points of her own and three assists.

The Lady Toppers shot 45 percent for the game (18-of-40), but the Lady Jag defense held WKU to just 31.3 percent shooting in the second half. After struggling to find its touch in the first half, USA was 14-of-28 in the second period and ended the game 23-of-58 for 39.7 percent.

Western Kentucky entered the game as the top rebounding club in the Sun Belt, but USA held a 37-30 advantage on the glass and out rebounded the Lady Toppers 23-11 in the final period of play. South Alabama also held WKU to five offensive rebounds – none in the second half.

“For us to hold them to five offensive rebounds is quite an accomplishment for us,” Pietri added. “I credit that to our second-half energy. They got to every loose ball in the first half. In the second half, we got to most of them. I am exceptionally pleased with our team’s effort, especially the way we rebounded the ball.”

Two other big statistical categories in the victory for USA were points in the paint and points off turnovers. South Alabama held a 38-22 advantage in the paint and a 29-16 margin in points off turnovers. The Jaguars forced 21 Hilltopper turnovers.

Western Kentucky – which shot over 50 percent in the first stanza - got off to a quick start, scoring on each of its first three possessions. The Lady Toppers also hit four of their first five shots from the floor. Owens and Govan did most of the damage early, combining for eight of WKU’s first 12 points.

Despite

a cold offensive start and four early turnovers, USA was able to hang around and after layups from Ammons and Nixon, the Lady Jags trimmed the deficit to 14-13 with just over nine minutes to go in the opening period of play. However on the Toppers next possession, Owens knocked down a turnaround jumper in the lane and then on WKU’s next trip down the floor, Danay Frothergill was left open on the wing. The freshman then drained a trey to increase Western’s lead to six (19-13) at the 8:03 mark.

Nixon added a bucket for the Jags with five minutes, 21 seconds to go, but WKU kept the scoring going and added to its lead, extending its advantage out to 24-15 with less than five minutes remaining after back-to-back buckets from Owens. Owens led all scorers with 10 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting.

WKU went on to lead by as much as 10 (27-17) during the first 20 minutes of action after a three-pointer from the top of the key with three minutes, 28 seconds left on the clock.

USA was able to hold the Lady Toppers scoreless over the next three-plus minutes and began to claw its way back. Peterson drove the lane for a layup a minute later and then did so again on the Jags’ last possession before the half to narrow the deficit to 27-21 with 13 seconds to go. WKU though came right back and Ellen Sholtes worked her way towards the basket and hit a layup of her own to send the Toppers into the locker room with an eight-point advantage, 29-21.

Western Kentucky was extremely efficient in the first half as the Lady Toppers knocked down 13 of their 24 attempts from the field for 52.4 percent shooting. The field-goal percentage was a new season-best in the first half for an opponent versus the Lady Jags, eclipsing the previous mark of 52.7 percent set by Utah on Nov. 26 at the UTSA Thanksgiving Classic.

USA was 9-for-30 from the floor for 30 percent, but just 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Jags came out with much better energy at both ends of the floor as they opened the period on a 12-3 run over the first six-and-a-half minutes. Nixon, Ammons and Cherizol each had two baskets apiece during the run. Cherizol gave USA its first lead of the game when the junior forward went coast-to-coast for a layup. On USA’s next possession, El also drove the lane for a layup of her own to cap off the scoring for the Lady Jags and put USA out in front by three (35-32) at the 13:28 mark.

After missing its first five shots and turning the ball over five times over the first seven minutes of the second half, Mimi Hill finally gave the Toppers their first field goal of the half at the 12:40 mark.

On USA’s next possession, Peterson hit one of her two attempts at the foul line and less than a minute later, Nixon drove toward the basket and after the WKU defense collapsed on the junior guard, she found Lauren Walker open in the left corner for a trey to stretch the Jaguars’ lead out to 39-34 with 11 minutes, 47 seconds to go.

With just over eight minutes showing on the clock, it was Peterson’s turn to knock down a big three-pointer as she drained one from the right wing to give South Alabama its largest lead of the night (42-36).

However, over the next minute-and-a-half, USA began to get a little sloppy and turned the ball over twice to aid an 8-0 Lady Topper run. Following a jumper from Chasity Gooch at the 7:54 mark, WKU was able to force two straight Jaguar turnovers. Western then retook the lead on a pair of Danay Fothergill free throws with six minutes, 38 seconds remaining in the half.

Western Kentucky would do most of its damage at the charity stripe over the final minutes as the Toppers hit 10 of their 14 attempts at the line over the final seven-plus minutes. Those would be their only points until a basket from Govan in the closing seconds.

With WKU holding the momentum and leading by three (49-46) with just over two minutes to go, USA got hot and closed strong as it rattled off seven unanswered points. El drove the lane for another layup to cut the deficit to one and after getting a defensive stop at the other end of the floor, Nixon put USA back out in front for good (50-49) on the Lady Jags’ ensuing possession. After a second-straight defensive stand, it was Nixon’s turn to distribute as she found Peterson open in the left corner with 31 seconds left.

USA’s defense remained solid the rest of the way and the Lady Jags hit three of their four attempts at the foul line – the last two coming from Peterson to extend the lead out to six with 14 seconds to play.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

NOTES: The win snaps a 26-game losing streak in road games in the series for the Lady Jags and is the program’s first-ever at versus Western Kentucky in Bowling Green. USA is now 9-46 in the all-time series and 5-17 under head coach Rick Pietri. The win was also the