MOBILE, Ala. — The South Alabama Lady Jaguars have won five of six games in December, improving to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt Conference heading into a nine-day holiday break.
The stretch included road wins at Memphis, Western Illinois and Florida International, a home rout of Houston Baptist, a victory over Western Kentucky and a four-point loss at Southern. Jessica Starling and Shakira Nettles led the team in scoring for much of the month.
Dec. 2: South Alabama 83, Houston Baptist 48
Nettles scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, as the Lady Jaguars routed Houston Baptist at the Mitchell Center. Vontrice Dennis added 13 points, and they were the only South Alabama players in double figures. Starling grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
South Alabama outshot Houston Baptist 42 percent to 37 percent from the field, 44 percent to 22 percent from 3-point range and 77 percent to 47 percent at the free-throw line. The Lady Jaguars also won the rebounding battle 52-32.
Dec. 6: Southern 62, South Alabama 58
South Alabama’s only loss of the month came on the road at Southern, where a poor first half proved too much to overcome. The Lady Jaguars made two field goals in the first 10 minutes, fell behind 18-6 and trailed 35-26 at halftime.
Southern’s Deidre Jackson kept scoring after the break, and the Lady Jaguars fell behind 45-31. After a 30-second timeout called by coach Rick Pietri, South Alabama cut the deficit to 54-51 with 3:43 remaining. Southern answered with back-to-back baskets for a 58-51 lead. Starling made two free throws with 10.3 seconds left, but Southern sealed the game with two free throws of its own.
Starling led all scorers with 17 points, and Nettles added 11. Southern outshot South Alabama 52 percent to 34 percent from the field, 38 percent to 23 percent from 3-point range and 56 percent to 53 percent at the line. In the first half, South Alabama shot 27 percent from the field to Southern’s 58 percent, and 20 percent from 3-point range to Southern’s 50 percent.
Dec. 11: South Alabama 66, Memphis 49
In Memphis, Tenn., both teams started slowly, combining to make 4 of their first 17 shots. With Memphis up by one and just over eight minutes left in the first half, South Alabama went on a 14-2 run over five minutes and led 35-23 at halftime. The Lady Jaguars forced 14 first-half turnovers, which led to 15 points, and held a 24-14 edge in the paint before the break.
South Alabama forced seven more turnovers before the first media timeout of the second half and led 41-25 with 15 minutes to play. Memphis hit back-to-back shots to get within 12, but got no closer. The Lady Jaguars stretched the lead to 64-38 before settling for a 17-point win.
Ra’Shawna Sippio led all scorers with 18 points and added 12 rebounds. Nettles scored 14. South Alabama outshot Memphis 36 percent to 34 percent from the field and 80 percent to 69 percent at the line, and outrebounded the Tigers 44-43. Memphis shot better from 3-point range, 20 percent to 15 percent.
Dec. 13: South Alabama 55, Western Illinois 49
South Alabama relied on its defense in another difficult shooting night, forcing 22 turnovers and recording 10 blocked shots and 11 steals.
The Lady Jaguars led by five at halftime, but Western Illinois opened the second half on a 13-5 run over the first six-plus minutes to take a 29-26 lead with 13:38 left. After the game was tied, Western Illinois scored nine straight points for its largest lead, 38-29. South Alabama answered after a timeout with a 13-2 run, and from the 5:53 mark on, Western Illinois managed only two field goals, scoring the rest of its points at the free-throw line.
Starling led all scorers with 14 points, and Nettles added 12. South Alabama made 71 percent of its free throws to Western Illinois’ 67 percent. Western Illinois led in field-goal percentage (30 to 29), 3-point percentage (46 to 23) and rebounding (43-40).
Dec. 17: South Alabama 66, Western Kentucky 59
South Alabama ended a nine-game losing streak against Western Kentucky behind a career-high 28 points from Starling, who made 8 of 13 shots, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
The Lady Jaguars led by seven at halftime, opened the second half with an 11-2 run and were ahead 41-25 with 16:21 remaining. Sippio added 10 points. Western Kentucky’s Arnika Brown matched Starling with 28 points and pulled down 14 rebounds.
South Alabama shot 39 percent from the field to Western Kentucky’s 30 percent and 35 percent from 3-point range to the Hilltoppers’ 22 percent. Western Kentucky made 75 percent of its free throws to South Alabama’s 67 percent and outrebounded the Lady Jaguars 47-43.
Dec. 20: South Alabama 65, Florida International 47
South Alabama moved to 2-0 in the Sun Belt with a win at Florida International. The Lady Jaguars built an early 13-point lead and never gave it up.
Starling scored 12 points and Brittney Rutledge added 11. South Alabama led in every major category, shooting 39 percent to 32 percent from the field, 38 percent to 33 percent from 3-point range and 63 percent to 60 percent at the line, and outrebounding FIU 49-37.
Up Next
South Alabama returns from its holiday break to host Ohio on Dec. 29 at the Mitchell Center. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
