Women’s Basketball Roundup 2009-02-03
The lady jags have gone 2-2 over the last four games since I last wrote about them on this site. Thus its time for a Lady Jag Roundup.
On January 21st the Jags hosted the SBC west division leading University of Arkansas Little Rock at the Mitchell Center. But despite Ra’Shawna Sippio’s third straight double-double USA fell 53-44.
Sippio tied a career high in scoring with 22 points and added 10 rebounds. She was the only Jag in double digits for the game. She added three blocked shots for the game as well. Chastity Reed of UALR lead all scorers with 28 points and 13 rebounds while Anshel Cooper chipped in with 11 points as well.
While USA came into the game with the second best average of 8.2 3-pointers per game, they were held to a mere 2-15 from outside the arc. Combined with 32% shooting from the floorand 71% from the free-throw line, it was obviously a long night for the Lady Jags.
On January 24th the Lady Jags traveled to Lafayette Louisiana to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns. A really good start in the first half helped the Lady Jags to come out with their 14th victory of the season and 5th in the Sun Belt Conference.
In the first half the Jags outshot ULL 57%-30% from the floor, 47%-17% from 3-point range but missed both free-throw attempts while ULL connected on 6 of 8 attempts.
The second half was even with the Jags hitting 9-23 from the floor, 2-12 from 3-point range and 5-12 from the free-throw line. While ULL went 12-30 from the floor, 3-8 from 3-point range and 2-3 from the free-throw line. So the 8 point lead at halftime led to a 14 point win.
The Lady Jags had four in double digits scoring. Shakira Nettles led the way with 18. Ra’Shawna Sippio added 13 points and 12 rebounds for yet another double-double. Shaniece Brunner and Jessica Starling both scored 11 points.
On January 29th the Lady Jags traveled to Denver Colorado to take on the Pioneers at Magness Arena. However another Ra’Shawna Sippio double-double could not lead the Jags to a win in overtime, 61-56.
Both teams were scoreless for the first two and a half minutes of overtime until Denver University scored. They then took a 60-53 lead on two consecutive buckets before Karina Sproal got USA on the board with three free throws. However USA could not come up with baskets in the closing seconds to lose by six.
Ra’Shawna Sippio lead all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds but no other Jag scored in double digits for the game. Denver had two double digit scorers: Britteni Rice with 18 and Ketlyn Murdoch with 11.
However the telling stats are from overtime. Denver going 3-6 from the floor, 1-2 from 3-point range and 1-2 from the free throw line while USA went 0-6 from the floor, no attempts from outside the arc and 3-3 on free throws.
On January 31st the Lady Jags hosted UNO in the second half of a double header at the Mitchell Center. The Jags captured their 15th victory of the season in their 68-60 victory.
Shakira Nettles lead all scorers with 23 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor while going 5-9 from 3-point range and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Ra’Shawna Sippio scored 14 with 10 rebounds for her sixth straight double-double. Morriah Smith and Jessica Starling both added 11 points.
UNO’s Jada Frazier scored 17 points, Brittany Helm added 14 and Cookie Johnson chipped in with 11 in the loss.
The lady Jags will host North Texas Wednesday night with tip-off scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Come out and support the Jaguars!
Lady Jags Fall To Louisiana-Monroe 67-58
The Lady Jags played hard in the second half to cut the lead from 16 points to a single point but ULM proved to have too much left in the tank and won the game 67-58.
The Jags came out and struggled from the field for most of the first half and would only hit three of its first 13 shots. But with about eight and a half minutes left in the first half, the Jags would pull within three points when Jessica Starling would be fouled while shooting a 3-pointer. She would hit two of the three foul shots and those would prove to the their only points for the next four minutes. ULM would take advantage and go on a 13-2 run that would finally end with a Karina Sproal layup with just under four and a half minutes left.
Siedah Banks and Jessica Starling would help to pull the Lady Jags within nine points but would be stretched back out to 11 at halftime, 33-22.
The second half started off like the first half started, slow like molassas. ULM would take advantage and increase their lead in the first 3:15 of the second half to 41-25, a 16 point lead. But Nettles would awaken from her slump where she was held without a field goal against MTSU and for the first 20 minutes of the ULM game. She would hit two 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the second half and back-to-back ones with less than 14 to go to help USA close the gap to 41-31.
Both teams would trade a few shots over the next few minutes to again increase the lead to 13 at 46-33 with under nine and a half minutes to go. This is when the Lady Jaguars started to make their run. A 15-5 run over about a five minute stretch would would pull USA within 3 at 51-48 with under five minutes to go. A layup by Jessica Starling would then close the gap further to a single point, 51-50.
But ULM would outscore the Jags 16-8 the rest of the way with most of it coming from foul shots when USA was forced to foul.
Coach Pietre was quoted saying, “There are peaks and valleys in a season and we are definitely in a valley right now….we couldn’t make the plays we had to make to go ahead and finish it off once we got it to one possession.”
Jessica Starling would lead USA in scoring with 18 on 5-15 shooting and going 3-8 from outside the arc. The only other double digit scorer for USA was Shakira Nettles with 14 on 5-14 shooting while going 4-6 from 3-point range.
ULM had three to score in double digits, Lottie Moore would lead all in scoring with 21 on 6-17 shooting with 1-3 from 3-point range and 8-15 from the free-throw line. next was Ashley Wallis with 19 on 7-8 shooting and hitting all five free-throws. Then Jesse Carrier would score 11 on 1-8 shooting and going 1-3 from 3-point range but would hit all eight free-throw attemps.
USA would go on to shoot an abysmal 29% for the game, hitting only 24% in the first half. While ULM would shoot 37% for the game and 39% for the first half. ULM would also hit 73% of their free-throw attempts, having 25 attempts in the second half alone.
The other statistical categories were a dead heat between the two teams: Pts in the paint ULM 20, USA 18; Pts off turnovers USA 14, ULM 11; 2nd chance points USA 14, ULM 12; Fast break pts USA 4, ULM 0; Bench pts USA 8, ULM 5. Rebounds ULM 48, USA 42.
The Lady Jags will be in action again on Wednesday, January 14th when it hosts Troy, their in-state rival. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Come out and support your Jags! Bleed it red!
Lady Jags Fall At Home For First Time This Season
The USA Lady Jags would jump out to a quick lead making the first basket but that would be their only lead of the game, falling to the Lady Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State 80-57. This loss puts the Lady Jags at 11-4 for the season and 2-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.
After USA made the first points of the game, the Raiders would go on a 25-8 run over the next seven minutes to take control of the game. MTSU had the hot hand early making their first seven shots which included three 3-point field goals, a couple by Brandi Brown early in the half. While USA was cold and only shot 2 of 9 during the same stretch. At the end of the run MTSU was up 25-11.
They did not stop there, Chelsia Lymon would make two 3-pointers in the closing minutes, one of them at the buzzer, to lead the Blue Raiders into the locker room with a 19 point lead, 40-21. Lymon’s buzzer beating shot was the ninth of the first half for the Blue Raiders on 13 attempts.
The Lady Jags came out of the locker room and tried to rally, cutting the lead down to 15 at 50-35 about five minutes into the second half. But the Blue Raiders would not let the Jags get any more momentum. The rest of the half was all downhill until the Jags were down by 30. USA would trim the lead back down to the 23 point margin of victory for the Blue Raiders.
Coach Pietri was in disbelief a few times at the Jags shooting and defensive woes. He made several substitutions and defensive changes in the second but the Blue Raiders would exploit different holes in the defense and continue scoring.
Alysha Clark lead the game in scoring for MTSU with 23 and adding 18 rebounds for a double double going 8-19 from the floor and 7-9 from the charity stripe. Other top scorers for MTSU were Brandi Brown scoring 17 on 6-8 shooting from the floor and 5-7 from outside the arc with 5 rebounds, Jackie Pickel scoring 14 on 5-9 shooting and 4-7 from 3-point range, and Chelsia Lymon with 11 points on 4-6 shooting and 3-4 from 3-point range. MTSU ended the game shooting 12 of 22 from outside the arc.
USA was lead in scoring by Jessica Starling who had 18 points on 5-14 shooting and hitting 3 of 7 from 3-point range and making all five of her free throws. Seidah Banks was the next highest scorer with 9 on 4 of 4 shooting and hitting her only attempt from 3-point range. Karina Sproal had 8 points, six of them on two early 3-pointers in the first half, but could not hit any of her later shots until two free-throws late in the second half.
MTSU shot 45% for the game from the field to a woeful 27% for USA, with a blistering 51% to 28% in the first half. The Blue Raiders also lead in 3-point FG percentage 55% to 28%, going 9-13 in the first half. MTSU lead with points in the paint 24-14 and points off turnovers 19-10. But USA did outscore MTSU on 2nd chance points 24-14 and fast break points 4-0. Plus USA’s bench scored 19 compared to MTSU’s bench scoring only 7 points for the game.
The Lady Jags will travel to Monroe, Louisiana to take on Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday with Tip-off set for 7:05pm.
One high point to the game was that the Thunderjags.com co-founder Matt had a visitor come sit next to him during the first half.
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| Matt with South Paw at the Lady Jags game. |
Lady Jags Lose to George Washington But Bounce Back In Consolation Game
The Lady Jags struggled to find its offense on Friday against George Washington to lose their first game of the season 64-59. Shakira Nettles led the Jags with 16 points and was closely followed by Jessica Starling who scored 15 and Karina Sproal who scored 10.
GW outscored the Jags 34-14 on the inside and were held to 28% field goal percentage.
In the consolation game of the GW Thanksgiving Tournament, the Lady Jags took on Liberty and won 65-61. Liberty has been to 11 of the last 12 NCAA Tournament and marks a nice win against good opposition. Jessica Starling lead the way with 18 points, Shikira Nettles scored 16 and Sarda Peterson scored 11 to round out the players in double digits.
The first half was a close match but USA hit its stride in the second half with the closest point in the game being 47-46 with 7:56 left in the game. The jags pulled away from there to hold on to the win.
The Lady Jags (5-1) will play again on Tuesday against Houston Baptist at 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
Lady Jags Push Record To 4-0 With Win Over Mercer
The Lady Jags won 96-82 Monday night to run their record to 4-0 for the season. Six Jaguars scored in double digits: Jessica Starling with 19, Shaniece Brunner with 18, Karina Sproal with 13, Morriah Smith with 11 and both Cylenthia Kennon and Shakira Nettles both had 10.
The Lady Jags also set a new Mitchell Center record with 14 three-pointers and the most by USA since the previous school record of 16 at Troy in 2006. The 96 points scored is also a season best and two points shy of tying the record at the Mitchell Center.
USA shot 59% from the floor for the game and shot 71% in the second half.
Around the 15 minute mark in the first half, USA distanced themselves from Mercer with a 16-2 run over the course of five minutes and went into halftime with a 47-35 lead.
USA then started the second half with another run scoring 16-3 in the first four minutes and were up 65-40 with over 15 minutes to go.
The rest of the half saw some rough play by the Jags but Mercer could only get within 12 points down the stretch.
The Lady Jags will be in action again on Friday when they travel to Washington D.C. for the George Washington Thanksgiving Classic. They will open the tournament playing the host, George Washington Colonials at 4pm.
GO JAGS!
Lady Jags Stay Undefeated Against UAB
On Monday night the lady jags held off a second half rally to topple the Lady Blazers of UAB 77-64. The trio of Jessica Starling, Shakira Nettles and Karina Sproal combined for 48 points for the Jags. Nettles had the game high of 17, Starling had 16 and Sproal had 15 (a career best and all in the first half).
The Lady Blazers jumped out with two quick scores early then the Lady Jags went on a 14-2 run using three turnovers to help them do so. The run started with a trey from Sproal which was one of only three on the night for the Lady Jags.
After a 12 point lead at halftime, the Blazers scored two quick baskets in the second half to cut the lead to single digits which they had not seen since about the half-way mark of the first half. The Jags quickly pushed the lead by to 13.
With about nine minutes to go in the game the blazers cut the lead down to four points and the Jags would not let them get any closer during the rest of the game.
The Lady Jags have a 7:05pm tipoff set at the Mitchell Center when they take on the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss.