MOBILE, Ala. - Behind the senior duo of Shaniece Brunner and Shakira Nettles - who recorded a combined 35 of the Jags' 82 points Sunday afternoon - the University of South Alabama women's basketball team picked up an 82-62 exhibition win over West Florida at the Mitchell Center.
Brunner led South Alabama with 19 points and game-high 13 rebounds, while Nettles had 16 points of her own and four assists. Junior forward Christian Shelter, playing her first game in a Jaguar uniform, also finished the night in double-digits with 10 points. Of the 13 players to see action on the court for USA, 12 were able to get into the scoring column.
UWF's Amy Drake led all scorers with 25 shooting on 9-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Emily Erland also had 12 for the Argos.
Two key stats in the victory for the Jags were in the free-throw and rebounding categories. South Alabama was 29-of-38 from the charity stripe, led by Tashley Gaines perfect 8-for-8 performance. USA also held a 49-29 advantage on the glass - converting 23 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.
"We've talked about, on the defensive side, finishing possessions. If you're going to guard your behind off for 28 seconds of the 30 second shot clock and then let the other team get the rebound after the shot you've basically worked for nothing," South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. "On the flipside, offensively, trying to get ourselves second chances. If we missed the first one let's give ourselves a chance to shoot it again. I thought today we did a pretty good job. Obviously, the level of completion steps up when you go into a Conference USA building on Saturday. We'll have to see if we can respond the same way at Southern Miss on Saturday."
USA will now begin the 2009-10 regular season on Saturday (Nov. 14) when they travel to take on Southern Miss at 2 p.m.
In the second half, the two clubs opened up by trading points during the first minute, but the Jags again used a big run to extend their lead back out to 19 and take control. Sarda Peterson got things started with a deep three-pointer at the 19:08 mark. Three-and-a-half minutes later, the sophomore capped the 13-2 run off for the Jags when she drove the lane and dropped in running jumper to put USA up 52-31 with 15 minutes, 23 seconds remaining.
South Alabama later grabbed its largest lead of the game (56-33) after a Morriah Smith trey from the left wing and a Cylenthia Kennon free throw.
Trailing by 23 with just over 13 minutes left, West Florida quickly rattled off a 10-2 run of its own to cut the Jags' lead to 56-45 at the 10:49 mark. Drake capped off the scoring for the Argos and with one of her three treys, this one coming from the right corner.
Brunner and Nettles though scored USA's next five points to push the lead back out to 18 (63-45) a little over a minute later. West Florida would get as close as 13 on a couple of occasions in the closing minutes, before the Jags pulled away to pick up the 20-point victory.
After trading baskets during the first couple of minutes of the contest, South Alabama quickly jumped out to a 9-2 advantage. Morriah Smith rebounded an errant Argo shot and drove the floor for a layup with just under 16 minutes remaining in the opening half to give USA the seven-point advantage. West Florida was able to trim the deficit to as few as three over the next couple of minutes, but the Jags used a 9-0 scoring spurt to stretch its lead back out to 12. Lauren Walker rebounded a Jaguar miss and knocked down a six-foot jumper at the 9:08 mark to give USA a 20-8 lead.
With USA holding its largest lead of the half at 33-16 with two minutes, 38 seconds to go after four-straight free throws from Gaines, West Florida made one final push and went into the locker room trailing by just 10 (37-27) after a Drake bucket with under a minute 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: With the win, South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri remains perfect in exhibition games, improving his record to 10-0. He also improves to 7-0 against West Florida with the victory.
-- USA --
