MOBILE, Ala. (November 1, 2021) – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team opened the exhibition portion of their 2021-22 season with an 85-49 loss to the University of South Alabama (USA) Lady Jags on Monday night at the USA Mitchell Center, but many positives for the upcoming year emerged during the game.
The Badgers and the Lady Jags both opened the game looking to work the inside portion of their offenses and the score was knotted at 4-4 just a minute-and-a-half into the festivities. USA broke out on top 9-4 and SHC shifted to shooting over the zone defense of the Lady Jags, but their shots refused to fall. Numerous Badger opportunities slipped by as shot after shot rattled in and out of the cylinder.
After the first media timeout, SHC head coach
Karen McConico had her ladies pick up the pace, but still narrow misses led to easy scores on the opposite end for USA. Badger shooting slumped to 4-17 overall and 1-10 from 3-point range with 6:02 remaining in the half.
Despite being down 38-18 at the intermission, the Badgers could find several positives in their play against their big sisters from just down Old Shell Road. The Badgers rebounded well on defense and they showed improvement in their offensive positioning from the abbreviated 2021 season, leading to open shots that just refused to fall through the net.
SHC showed that they had come to play as the second half started and rallied for the first five points of the 3
rd quarter and played the Lady Jags to a 20-20 dead heat over the next 10 minutes. The bench depth of USA was the deciding factor in the 4
th quarter, nevertheless, as USA finished the game with a 27-11 advantage over the final 10 minutes.
Redshirt freshman center
Ariel Thompson led the Badgers with 17 points while sophomore forward
Tyashia Bostick added 14 points with three assists and a blocked shot. Sophomore guard
Lindi DeBilzan roped in 10 rebounds.
As a team, SHC closed the night with a 32.1% (17-53) shooting effort, including an 18.2% (4-22) 3-point showing. A 47.8% (11-23) free throw performance hurt the Badger cause, but 36 rebounds and four blocked shots helped. SHC turned the ball over 29 times leading to 22 points off turnovers for the Jags.
USA shot 46.5% (33-71) overall and 27.8% (5-18) from 3-point range with 49 rebounds and four blocked shots. The Jags lost the ball 20 times resulting in 12 points for the Badgers. Zena Ellis paced USA with 17 points. USA outscored SHC 54-18 in the paint and their bench poured in 31 points compared to just 10 for the Badger reserves.
The Badgers next play the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Blazers in an exhibition contest in Bartow Arena at 6 p.m. on Friday.
