MOBILE, Ala. — The South Alabama women’s basketball team puts its 2-0 record on the line Friday night when the Lady Jaguars host regional rival Southern Miss at the Mitchell Center. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
South Alabama is coming off a 59-43 win over Tennessee State earlier in the week. Southern Miss, a member of Conference USA, opened its season Nov. 9 with a 78-41 loss to Hampton.
Pietri Wary of Golden Eagles’ Backcourt
Lady Jaguars head coach Rick Pietri pointed to the Southern Miss guards who led the Golden Eagles past South Alabama last season.
“The thing that we have to be concerned about is this is a team that beat us last year,” Pietri said. “Their backcourt basically killed us last year, Tanecka Carey and Jamierra Faulkner. They put up 26 and 20 (points) on us, and they’re back. We’ve got to find a way to manage them without ignoring the other players on their team who are capable as well.”
Pietri also noted that Southern Miss has had a full week to prepare after its opening loss.
“They’re coming off what I’m sure to them was a disappointing loss and they’ve had a whole week to stew about it, which as their next opponent, is something I’m not very excited about,” he said. “Nonetheless, I know that they’ll be ready to play, and, based on their success versus us last year in a very close game, I know that they’re not going to have any fear of us, so we’re going to have to do the best we can to defend and find ways to score to give ourselves a chance to win.”
Series History
Southern Miss leads the all-time series 15-10, although Pietri is 7-2 against the Golden Eagles in his career. Last season, Southern Miss won 67-62 in Hattiesburg. In the teams’ most recent meeting in Mobile, during the 2010-11 season, South Alabama won 95-61.
South Alabama competes in the Sun Belt Conference.
