(Guru's Notes: Stephen K. Lee, who handled Rutgers on-site converage for the blog when the Guru was away from the scene, has graduated and is now on in internship at the Mobile Press-Register in Alabama. He filed this email to Guru central about a game he covered Thursday night between South Alabama and Southern Mississippi. Here's his commentary and then the story which we copied.)
It turned out to be a great game that came down to a tipped inbounds pass and free throws with 4.5 seconds left.
It was nice to get to cover a D-I women's game. It brought back some fond memories too.
Drumming up flashbacks of the many styles of play that I observed while covering Rutgers the previous two years, this game was like watching Villanova-type squad vs. LSU from a year ago.
South Alabama (similar to Nova) relied heavily on perimeter shooting with virtually no attempts at dribble penetration while Southern Miss (LSU-like) had decent guard play and kept going inside to its unstoppable 6-4 center. Strange that finesse beat inside aggression this time around. Not used to that.
- Stephen
South Alabama women's basketball edges Southern Miss
Friday, November 21, 2008
By STEPHEN K. LEE
Sports Reporter
Shakira Nettles hit two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to lift South Alabama to a hard-fought 66-64 win over Southern Miss Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.
"Basically, I had been missing all night pretty much," said Nettles, who had 6 points in the game's final 47 seconds and was 4 of 7 at the line. "I wasn't shooting well (5 of 16 from the field). I knew it came down to the line. I had to just stay focused, forget about the ones I missed and put them in."
The Jaguars (3-0) battled back from a 57-47 deficit in the game's final eight minutes to defeat the Golden Eagles (2-1).
"I think down 10 that they believed they had it in the bag at that point," USA coach Rick Pietri said of Southern Miss. "We just had to have some more fight. They were out-fighting us but the game wasn't over yet.
"We found some reserves inside of ourselves to fight back and made some big-time plays."
After Jessica Starling hit a runner down the lane with 8.2 seconds remaining to tie it 64-64,
Shaniece Brunner deflected the Golden Eagles' inbound pass and Nettles recovered the loose ball.
"Shaniece did a great job of getting her hands on the tip," said Nettles, who finished with 16 points. "I saw it and I reached for it and I knew I had a few seconds to do what I can. I pump-faked and (USM's Stephanie Helgeson) came down on me."
Starling carried the Jags for the majority of the game, scoring 10 of her game-high 24 points in the first half and swiping four steals to go with 10-of-19 shooting from the field.
"We had a lot of energy plays," Starling said. "We knew when we were down that, eventually, if we stick together, we're going to come back."
Southern Miss' 6-4 junior center Helgeson scored eight of the Golden Eagles' final 10 points of the first half, which ended with USA ahead 36-32.
In the second half, Helgeson, who led Southern Miss with 18 points and 10 boards, scored five points during an 18-4 run that gave the Golden Eagles the 10-point lead.
South Alabama hosts Mercer Monday at 7:05 p.m.
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