WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Struggling to find its offense Friday evening, the South Alabama women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season as the Lady Jags fell 64-59 to George Washington in the opening round of the GW Thanksgiving Classic held at the Charles E. Smith Center.
USA (4-1) will now take on Liberty in the consolation game of the tournament Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CT). In the first game of the day, the Lady Flames fell 46-39 to Hartford. George Washington improves to 3-2 on the year with the win and will face Hartford on Saturday in the championship game.
Live stats for South Alabama’s game on Saturday may be accessed at www.usajaguars.com. Fans can also purchase live web streaming of all four tournament games by subscribing to GW All-Access package for $9.95. To purchase the monthly subscription, fans need to just follow this link; http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=gewa&media=93458.
Shakira Nettles led the Lady Jags offensively against the Colonials, finishing with 16 points. Jessica Starling and Karina Sproal also chipped in with 15 and 10 points, respectively. GW was paced by Jessica Adair’s game-high 18 points. The senior post player was 9-of-14 from the floor. Antella Parrish also finished the night in double digits with 15 points. All five of her made field goals came from long range.
GW held a huge advantage down low, outscoring the Jags 34-14 in the paint. The Colonials also held USA to its lowest shooting percentage of the season, as the Jags were only able to convert on just 18 of their 65 attempts for a 27.7 field goal percentage. Conversely, George Washington was able to knock down 49 percent (25-of-51) of its attempts.
“It’s a disappointing loss for us tonight,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “For us to be the team that we want to be, this was a road game that we needed to win. We gave ourselves chances, but after shooting it brilliantly in our last game at home, we just could make open perimeter looks tonight at a rate that would have given us a chance to win. (George Washington) was so big physically, that when we got it close to the basket, they blocked 10 of our shots. Therefore, when we had open looks, we needed to put them down and we just couldn’t put down enough of them.”
South Alabama used the three-pointer early on, connecting on three of its first five shots from beyond the arc, to grab a quick 9-3 advantage. Sproal, Starling and Nettles each drained a trey for the Jags during that stretch. The Lady Jag defense also came out strong in the opening minutes, forcing six Colonial turnovers before the first media time out. Jessica Adair’s back-to-back buckets and Parrish’s trey from the right wing put the Colonials back out in front (13-9) with just over 13 minutes remaining in the period.
The Jaguar women battled back and retook the lead three-minutes later on Starling’s third three-pointer of the half. The senior’s long-range bucket put USA back out in front 17-16 with 10 minutes, 12 seconds remaining. The two clubs kept things close over the next several minutes, until with it tied at 23, Ivy Abiona sank a turn-around jumper at the 4:09 mark, one of three-straight baskets for the post player, to ignite an 8-0 run for the Colonials. Parrish capped off the scoring spurt for GW with a pair of treys, the last one coming with two minutes, 30 seconds left before the intermission. Parrish’s last three-pointer gave George Washington its largest lead of the half at eight (31-23). The Colonials held on and headed into the locker room with the 31-25 advantage.
Starling (USA) and Parrish (GW) led all scorers with nine points in the first 20 minutes of play. After getting off to a good start offensively, South Alabama finished the first stanza shooting just 25.8 percent (8-of-31), while the Colonials connected on 12 of their 27 attempts from the floor for 44.4 percent.
GW also held a big advantage on the boards at the break, out rebounding USA 27-17. South Alabama was able to force 14 first half turnovers though.
After Jessica Adair’s layup to open the half, South Alabama got a little something going as it trimmed the deficit to four (33-29). Shaniece Brunner laid the ball off the glass and then a few seconds later, Starling stole the ball and found Siedah Banks for another quick score. After George Washington had stretched its lead back out to nine (40-31) on another Parrish trey at the 16:04 mark, the Lady Jags reeled off seven unanswered points over the next minute and a half. Morriah Smith’s three-pointer from the left corner with 14:27 left on the clock capped off the spurt and brought USA to within two.
However, from the 11 minute mark on, South Alabama could not find its offensive touch. Sproal’s trey with just over 11 minutes to go in the game was the last field goal for the Lady Jags until a Starling three-pointer at the 1:31 mark. Over that stretch, USA was 0-for-14 from the field, it’s only points coming from the charity stripe. George Washington took advantage of South Alabama’s offensive woes and went to its interior game, scoring its next 10 points inside the paint. Jazmine Adair’s six-foot jumper with four minutes, 41 seconds remaining gave the Colonials their first double-digit lead of the game at 59-59.
USA kept fighting and pulled as close as four (59-55) on the Starling three-pointer, but the Lady Jags couldn’t draw any closer, eventually falling by five.
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).
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