Lady Jags Fall To Nicholls State 68-60
The South Alabama Women’s Basketball team fell to Nicholls State on Wednesday night 68-60 to fall to 0-3 on the season.
NSU’s Emani White and KK Babin combined to score 49 of the Colonels points in the win.
The Jags were led by Meghan Dunn who chipped in 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting including going 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Rachel Cumbo added a career high 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 at the foul line. Breanna Hall had nine points while Brittany Webb added six points and six assists.
South Alabama shot 46% as a team from the field and were 8-of-18 from the 3-point line. However they committed 25 turnovers which led to 25 points for the Colonels.
The Lady Jags will try to get their first win of the season against Houston Baptist on Monday, November 25 with tip-off scheduled for 7:05pm.
Non-AQ Top 10 11-18-2013
Fresno State and Northern Illinois get even tighter atop the top 10. Fresno State has the edge by 1 first place vote and 1 point overall. Louisiana-Lafayette remains the only Sun Belt representative in the top 10 at #7 with former SBC member North Texas one spot behind them in 8th place.
Arkansas State is not in the top ten, but did receive some votes this week.
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Non-AQ Top 10
|
|||
|
RK
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PTS
|
|
1
|
Fresno
State (7) |
9-0
|
124
|
|
2
|
Northern
Illinois (6) |
10-0
|
123
|
|
3
|
Brigham
Young |
7-3
|
87
|
|
4
|
East
Carolina |
8-2
|
77
|
|
5
|
Ball
State |
9-2
|
76
|
|
6
|
Boise
State |
7-3
|
60
|
|
7
|
Louisiana
|
8-2
|
59
|
|
8
|
North Texas
|
7-3
|
29
|
|
9
|
Toledo
|
7-3
|
26
|
|
10
|
Bowling Green
|
7-3
|
18
|
Dropped from rankings: Marshall,
Others receiving votes: Buffalo 12, Marshall 11,
Rice 9, Arkansas State 3, Ohio 1.
USA Volleyball Opens SBC Tournament On Thursday
The fifth seeded Jaguar women’s volleyball team will open postseason play on Thursday in Troy, Alabama when they take on the fourth seeded Texas-Arlington Mavericks in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Championships at 5pm on Thursday.
This is the first appearance by the Jags in the last three season and only one player of the roster has experience in playing in a conference championship event.
The Jags (14-14, 9-9 SBC) finished the season with a 7-2 record over their final nine conference matches and was second only to top seeded Western Kentucky during that span. After opening the conference schedule by going 0-5, they won 9 of their next 13 matches.
Mechell Daniel and Jessica Lewis have combined to earn eight SBC Freshmen of the Week honors this season with Daniel being named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week on November 11.
With 411 kills on the season, Daniel has set the record for most ever by a freshman at USA and ranks seventh all-time for a single season. Of her 14 double-doubles this season, 13 of them have come against Conference foes.
UT-Arlington holds a 2-1 advantage in the series. UTA won in Arlington earlier this season 3-0 but the Jags won their second meeting 3-1 in Mobile. They ended a five-match losing streak last weekend with a 3-1 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday and a 3-2 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday. During their losing streak they lost matches to Troy, USA, WKU, Georgia State and Texas State.
“I think it’s very good for our team to get the experience of playing in the Sun Belt tournament and I’m excited for our players,” Jaguar head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. “It’s a special occasion and not everyone gets to go to the conference tournament. On the other hand, I feel we have a group of young ladies that have all been competing for championships before at other levels, so I don’t think that’s anything out of the ordinary for them. This is something that they are familiar with. We’re just going to try to focus on it like any other match.”
“We had a tough test at the net against Georgia State (on Sunday),” Hendrichovsky continued. “Like UTA, they have a very physical presence at the net. I think we have to keep the same type of mentality and approach that we have against any other team. Our game can’t change because of who’s on the other side of the net. We have to control our side. A lot of it will be on our first contact and how we handle that. I want our attackers to keep the same mentality that they’ve had. We’ve played many teams that have a physical presence on the other side of the net. We compete against ourselves every day in practice and we’re third in the conference (in league play) in blocking. So it’s not something we haven’t seen throughout the year.”
Live stats of the matches can be found on the Sun Belt Conference website by going here.
Go Jags
USA Women’s Basketball To Open Home Schedule Tonight
South Alabama Women’s Basketball team will host Nicholls State for their home opener on Wednesday night. They look to get their first win of the season as they have started the season 0-2 after they fell to Southern Miss 93-69 last week.
Meghan Dunn is the Jaguars leading scorer averaging 12.5 points per game and shooting 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Ronneka Robertson is next with 11.0 points per game while shooting 7-of-14 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Robertson also averages 8.5 rebounds per game. Breanna Hall and Rachel Cumbo both average 5.5 rebounds per game.
As a team they are averaging 24 turnovers per game.
The colonels come to Mobile with a 1-1 record after winning their season opener against SUNO 91-58 but fell last Thursday to then nineth ranked Baylor 111-58.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Monday Press Conference
Jaguars head coach Joey Jones spoke with the media on Monday to reflect on their game against Navy and to preview this weekend’s game against Louisiana-Monroe. He was joined by defensive lineman Alex Page and wide receiver Shavarez Smith as representatives from the offense and defense. Below are highlights from the press conference.
Coach Jones spoke about how tough it is at the end of the season to have had so many close losses. “The biggest thing I challenged them with yesterday is we’re going to finish the season [strong]. I think it struck home with our seniors, they realized that they could still make something special of this year. They’ve done some really good things to get this program where they are now, and to do something special these last three games is within our grasp. It really comes down to going back to work and having the same energy we’ve had for almost every game this year. I see a different look in our seniors’ eyes right now, because I think they see it coming to an end and they want to do something about it.”
He answered a question about if he has been surprised by how the team has responded. “I’ve told the players this is one of the toughest things I’ve ever been through in my football career, just because you’re doing so many things right but you don’t see it on the scoreboard like you want to. Let’s face it, we’re maybe three plays away from three more wins, and that’s difficult to go through because you tell kids all the time don’t worry about the scoreboard, worry about the process, but that scoreboard matters at times.”
“It’s difficult, there’s no doubt about that, but they’ve laid a foundation and are doing things right,” he continued. “I don’t know that I could look back and say that I would do anything different. We’re a growing program right now, Yes, I would have liked to have won two or three or four of those close games, but the players have brought it every week and that’s the thing that is so satisfying to see. You always say it doesn’t matter what happened last week, but do you really believe that? To me they do, they believe they are moving forward and are going to take these last three games to heart.”
Jones talked about the keys to Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe. “We have to go back to work and do what we’ve been doing. The tendency sometimes when you lose a game is to tray and revamp things, but to me we’re doing a lot of great things. The kids are working hard, paying attention to video, we’re having good practices, and they are mentally charged up for games. When you lose a game like we did last weekend to a really good Navy team, you have to go back to work.”
“I think we’re doing the right things. I believe in the system we have here and I believe in our players.”
He also talked about what aspects about the team impresses him that others cannot or may not see. “The biggest thing is how much they care about each other and how much they care about this football program. It means a lot to our seniors that they want to build this program in the right way, when they came here there was nothing, and now here they are in their senior year and they want to make something of it. They have goals and dreams, and one of those goals is intact, but they want to see this program be the best it can be and do it in the right way. It’s not just about winning football games for them but in doing things the right way, and you can see they truly believe that.”
Jones spoke about the Warhawk’s and some of what they have learned through scouting them. “They are very good on offense, I think everyone knows about Kolton Browning. He’s what I call a magician out there, he just makes play when you don’t think he can make one. He has an uncanny ability to scramble, run towards the line of scrimmage, see someone 40 yards downfield and throw it for a touchdown. He does things you can’t coach.”
“Offensively they have weapons and a power running game they didn’t have the last couple of years.”
“Defensively they run every front known to man, they are by far the most multiple defense of anybody we’re going to play. They’ll have all sorts of fronts and blitzes that we will have to block and protect against, it will be a great challenge for us.”
Jones addressed a question about how much last year’s game will help the Jags prepare to face the Warhawk defense. “I remember we had a decent game against them last year, I think that was one of our better games toward the end of the year. You certainly remember some of the personnel. You leave a game sometimes taking notes on what you wish you had done and bring those with you the next year. Anytime you play anybody you gain experience and know what they are thinking, how they make adjustments. We, in turn, will try to make adjustments from last year.”
Defensive lineman Alex Page talked about facing Navy’s triple option. “The triple option requires so much discipline. It’s so hard-nosed and it takes a toll on your body throughout the game. It’s tough. But being able to get away from that this week and pass rush and do the things that are fun as a defensive lineman is exciting. It will get you going for this week. That’s what you want. You want to be able to run around and have fun out there.”
Page spoke about the things they need to do in order to succeed in the Jags final three games of the season. “We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing. You can always say you could have done more, but we’ve played as hard as we could in each game and studied film and learned from the coaches as much as possible. We’ve done all these things. We’ve just had some bad breaks. But knowing we have three more games left, you want to make sure you have every little detail fine-tuned. And you want to make sure the game plan is as ready as it can be. We just have to be as prepared as we’ve ever been.”
He also spoke about Browning at he ULM offense. “They have a great quarterback in Kolton Browning. He makes them go. They get it out on the perimeter, they can run and catch the deep ball. They make big plays. That’s what you see in the league each week. They’re the high-powered offense that we always see in Sun Belt games. We know that we have to contain the quarterback if we want to have a chance. It’s not much different from last year. They are very similar to last season. We just need to contain the quarterback and avoid the big plays.”
Wide receiver Shavarez Smith spoke about the upcoming game against ULM. “This team has a tremendous amount of respect for our seniors. As a whole, we’re going to do what we have to do to send them out on as good of a note as we can because we really respect what they’ve done for this program. We’re just going to go back to work and do what we do every week. We’re going to do what the coaches ask us to do and work as hard as we can.”
He also spoke about what the team needs to do in order to be successful in the final three games of the season. “We just need to be confident. I believe we are a confident team, and we believe in what we do and our abilities. So we just have to be resilient. We have to work hard, believe in our coaching staff and teammates, and just continue to work to win.”
South Alabama and Louisiana-Monroe are scheduled to kick off at 6pm at Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Saturday.
USA Defeates William Carey 76-53
South Alabama Men’s Basketball team used a strong defensive effort to defeat William Carey 76-53 Monday night at the Mitchell Center. Four Jaguars, including two freshmen, scored in double-figures while holding William Carey to 35.1% shooting for the game.
William Carey ended the first half with a 7-2 run to narrow the Jaguar lead to 38-28 heading into halftime but the Jaguars defense opened the second half by only allowing one field goal in the first 5:43 of the second half and only went 8-of-29 (27.6%) overall in the second half.
William Carey came into the game ranked #10 in the NAIA preseason poll and averaging 92 points in the first two games of the season.
Senior Augustine Rubit earned his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds but struggling from the free throw line by going 2-of-12. The team as a whole only shot 14-of-30 from the charity stripe.
Freshmen T.J. Johnson and Ken Williams set career highs with 12 and 11 points respectively. Johnson came off the bend to shoot 5-of-7 from the floor and a perfect 2-of-2 from outside the 3-point arc. Williams went 4-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-4 from outside the arc. Williams came into the game shooting 1-of-14 from outside the arc.
Sophomore Barrington Stevens III scored all 10 points in the second half by going 4-of-4 in field goal attempts while adding three assists.
USA saw their lead fall into single digits only once in the second half as the Crusaders continued to fight to stay in the game. However a 12-3 run put the Jags up by 18 points. Junior Dionte Ferguson began the run with a dunk then freshman Austin Karazsia added four straight as part of an eight-point unanswered run by the Jags.
A 13-5 run near the finale of the game put the Jags up by 25 points with a minute left.
“I thought we did a good job of playing with a lot of intensity early on,” South Alabama head coach Matthew Graves said after the game. “We came out and really defended well early. One of our goals was to really improve in our transition defense and for the most part we did that tonight. So that was certainly a step in the right direction from the game with Texas to now.”
“We just need to continue to put together more of a full 40 minutes of action,” he continued. “We still have lulls in our game and part of that is having a young team and part of that is learning a new system. At the same time, the focus is each and every possession, you have to play it like it’s your last possession and we’re getting better at that but we still have a long ways to go.”
When asked about the teams free throw shooting Graves dismissed it, saying he was not concerned about it. He pointed out that against Texas they shot 80% as a team. Graves explained, “It’s one of those things that happens, you don’t want it to happen.”
Rubit’s march up the history books continues. He moved into fifth place in Sun Belt Conference history with 923 rebounds and stands 10 shy of fourth and 11 shy of third. He also only became the eighth player in school history to make 500 field goals. With his two blocked shots, he passes Ronald Douglas for fifth in school history.
The Jaguars will host the CBE Classic this weekend. The Jags will start against Southern Miss at 7:05pm in the Mitchell Center.
USA Volleyball Split Weekend Matches To End Regular Season
The South Alabama Jaguar Women’s Volleyball team split a pair of weekend matches to round out the regular season.
On Friday, the Jags nearly upset the conference leading Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Freshman Jessica Lewis recorded a career-high 20 kills along with 10 digs for her second career double-double.
The Jags took the match to five games but could not get come away with the win in the last set. Though it did break a nine-consecutive straight-set match wins for the hilltoppers and only the second SBC team to push them to five sets this season.
On Sunday, the Jags closed out the regular season with a 3-1 win on the road against Georgia State to even their overall and conference records.
With the win, the Jags (14-14, 9-9 SBC) clinch the fifth seed in the conference tournament starting next week in Troy, Alabama.
Mechell Daniel led the Jags with 18 kills and 12 digs for her 14th double-double this season with 13 of them coming against Sun Belt foes. Lewis also had 15 kills while Mallory Moore had 10 kills.
Freshman libero Abby Baker had a career day with 26 digs.
Georgia State’s season ends with a 9-23 overall record and a 4-14 record in SBC play.
The Jags will play #4 seeded Texas-Arlington (17-14, 10-8 SBC) in the first round of the SBC Championships in Troy. The match is set to begin at 5pm on Thursday night. This is the Jags first appearance in the tournament since the 2010 season and only the fourth since 2000.
Live stats and web streaming of matches will be available through the conference website. The winner between the Jags and the Mavericks will face the winner of the match between #1 seeded Western Kentucky and #8 seeded host Troy. They play after the Jags at 7:30pm.
Go Jags!
USA Soccer’s Historic Season Ends Against FSU In NCAA Tournament
The University of South Alabama Women’s Soccer team pose after wining their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship by defeating Western Kentucky 1-0 on Sunday in San Marcos, Texas. | sunbeltsports.org
The University of South Alabama Women’s Soccer team saw their historic season come to an end on Friday against the top-ranked Florida State Seminoles in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a 5-0 loss.
South Alabama (14-6-3) ended its most successful season ever with their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The 14 wins are the second-most in program history. FSU advances to the second round of their 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Seniors Clarissa Hernandez, Jess Oram and Shelby Owen all made their 84th start for the Jaguars to extend their records for most most games played at South Alabama.
Florida State (19-1-3) scored their first goal in the ninth minute and never looked back. They held a 3-0 advantage at the half but would add another goal just over a minute into the second half. They outshot the Jags 20-3 in the match.
The 5-0 loss was the worst losing margin for the Jaguars since USA lost to FSU 9-0 on August 31, 2012.
“I’m really proud of the girls tonight,” said Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth. “They have worked extremely hard. I think we came out a little shaky and, unfortunately, conceded some early goals with all the nerves. This is the first time that our program has been in this situation, so it’s understandable to have those nerves.”
“What I enjoy most and respect the most about Florida State is that they are a very well-coached team,” he continued. “They are class acts on the field as well. They are top-class players that are clearly experienced, but what makes me like Florida State over a lot of teams in the ACC is just the style of soccer they play.”
This was the final game for the following seniors: Lauren Arnold, Lindsey Snavely, Clarissa Hernandez, Melissa Drish, Stacie Bevens, Tatum Perry, Lizzie Goldsmith, Shelby Owen, Morgan Motes and Jess Oram. Thank you being South Alabama Jaguars. Once a Jaguar, always a Jaguar!
Jags Fall To Navy 42-14 In Annapolis
The Naval Academy and their triple-option offense rushed for over 300 yards against the South Alabama defense. Darius Staten rushed for 127 yards on seven carries to lead the Midshipmen to a 42-14 win over the Jaguars.
Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds rushed for 59 yards on 17 carries and also threw for 168 yards by going 10-of-17 passing. Navy gained a total of 519 yards against the Jaguars while outgaining them by 219 yards.
The Jags fell to 3-6 on the season with three games to go in the season and will need to win their final three games in order to get bowl eligible in their first year as a full member of the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Enrique Williams led the Jaguar defense with 12 tackles for his third consecutive outing with a double-digit total.
Ross Metheny went 18-of-27 passing for 160 yards. Shavarez Smith caught five passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns, his first time posting multiple touchdowns in a game. This was the Jaguars lowest offensive output of the season.
South Alabama was only the second team this season to score a touchdown against the Midshipmen in the first quarter.
Navy’s first drive stalled at the Jaguar 20 after a Jesse Kelley sack on second down and a Romelle Jones pressure forced the Midshipmen to settle for a 37 yard field goal.
The Jags responded with one of their best drives of the season when they marched 78 yards in 14 plays that spanned 5:39 to take a 7-3 lead.
Navy moved the ball in some large chunks on their next scoring drive as they covered 91 yards in just over two minutes to take a 10-7 lead on the Jaguars.
Metheny would lead the Jaguars down the field again as he went 4-of-5 and 41 yards including the 22 yard touchdown strike to Shavarez Smith to put the Jaguars back in the lead 14-10. But that would be the final time the Jags would put points on the board as it would mostly be all Navy for the rest of the game.
The Jags had a chance to get back into the game down 27-14, but could not convert and the triple-option attack would continue to wear on the Jaguar defense.
Navy made some very good adjustments to what South Alabama was doing offensively and held a commanding 261-108 total yardage advantage on the Jags in the second half.
Kendall Houston led the Jaguar ground game with 36 yards on 11 carries with Jay Jones adding 31 yards on seven carries.
Kendall Houston was unable to get into the end zone after two rushing attempts inside the Midshipmen’s five-yard line.
Quarterback Brandon Bridge saw the field after being held out of the previous two games but was to spark the offense as the coaching staff were hoping.
“They were a better football team than us tonight,” head coach Joey Jones said. “You feel like you’re playing catch up the entire game once you fall behind.”
“When you play a team like this, you have to score points to beat them and we just didn’t,” said Jones. “When teams beat them, they score 30-something points, you just have to do that. Our defense didn’t play great. We stopped them a couple of times but we gave up a lot of big plays. They are dang good at what they do.”
The only obvious injury was to Wes Saxton when he was tackled on a crossing pattern and had his leg twisted under him when he went down. After going to the locker room for some time he returned to the sideline on crutches with a sprained ankle and will be listed as day-to-day while he recovers. This is some good injury news for the Jaguars after losing two players for the season in their previous game against Arkansas State. Danny Woodson ruptured his Achilles in a routine play away from the ball and Cris Dinham injured his knee and required surgery that will sideline him the remainder of the regular season.
South Alabama will resume their Sun Belt schedule when they host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, November 23 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
South Alabama vs Navy Gameday
The South Alabama Jaguars and Navy Midshipmen play at 2:30pm CST today in Annapolis, Maryland. The game will be available for viewing on CBS Sports Network and play-by-play can be heard on 105.5FM WNSP and streaming online on www.wnsp.com.
There are a few keys to a Jaguar victory. One of the big things is containing the Midshipmen’s triple-option offense. If the Navy offense gets going, they can grind out yards and eat through clock. It’s possible the Jags could only possess the ball one time in a quarter. But the defense cannot be too aggressive, they will have to play assignment football and be in position at all times.
The Jaguar offense will have to be productive when they have the ball. As mentioned before, it’s possible the offense could only have the ball once a quarter if the Jaguar defense cannot stop the Navy offense. The Jaguar offense must convert on third down and may have to play ball-control offense themselves if the Jaguar defense starts to tire against the Navy offense.
The Navy offense starts with quarterback Keenan Reynolds. He is the team’s top rusher by a large margin and is effective as a passer when needed. Though when the Midshipmen throw more than nine passes their winning percentage plunges. The strategy with the best results when executed against the Midshipmen is to contain the run game, including Reynolds, and force them to throw on third-and-long situations.
The Jags will have to start quickly. Navy has scored 52 points in the first quarter this season while only allowing 19 points to opponents. They also finish pretty well by scoring 86 points in the fourth quarter and allowing 73 points defensively.
The Jags offense will need to score touchdowns, not field goals, when they have the ball. Meanwhile the Jaguar defense wants to hold the Navy offense to field goals when they can.
Navy has a couple players injured as they enter the game. Defensive lineman Bernard Sarra has an injured foot and is doubtful for the game. Fullback Noah Copeland has a leg injury, defensive back Chris Ferguson sufferred a concussion, and offensive lineman Jake Zuzek also a leg injury will all be questionable for the game.
The Jags have lost four players to season ending injuries through the course of the season. Offensive lineman Melvin Meggs tore his ACL over the summer. Defensive end Will Thompson required ankle surgery back in fall camp. Defensive lineman Randon Carnathan had a torn Achilles against Tulane and most recently wide receiver Danny Woodson had a ruptured Achilles in the Jags previous game. Defensive lineman Romelle Jones sprained his MCL a couple weeks ago but was able to play in the Jaguars previous game. Tight end Wes Saxton has been recovering from a shoulder injury but will play. Linebacker Maleki Harris left the previous game and was on the sidelines with a sling on his right arm, but will also be ready to play. Finally Qudarius Ford left the previous game with a concussion, but has passed the battery of tests in order to return to practice and be able to play.
The Jags have four games left this season including todays game. Navy is a 7.5 point favorite in today’s game.