South Alabama women’s basketball secured a 73-58 victory over #5 seed Marshall on Friday in Pensacola, marking the program’s first win against Marshall. With this result, South Alabama advances to the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Championship, where they will face #4 seed James Madison at noon Saturday at the Pensacola Bay Center.
Marshall opened the game with an early layup, but Diawna Carter-Hartley quickly responded with a three-pointer for South Alabama. The Jaguars maintained their lead throughout the contest. In the first quarter, Chrysta Narcisse scored a jumper after breaking free from Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, who was named Newcomer of the Year in the league. South Alabama controlled much of the opening period and continued to build momentum into the second quarter.
Cordasia Harris contributed defensively by blocking a shot from Ni’kiah Chesterfield as South Alabama built a six-point lead. Ronaltha Marc added six points during a 9-0 run late in the second quarter and hit a corner three-pointer to give her team a 12-point halftime advantage.
Marshall made several three-pointers during an early third-quarter run but could not close the gap significantly. Despite being outscored in that period, South Alabama entered the final quarter up by ten points. Daniela Gonzalez led another scoring push for South Alabama in the fourth quarter as they extended their lead and limited Marshall’s offensive opportunities down the stretch.
Ronaltha Marc recorded season-highs with 17 points, four free throws made, and six rebounds. As a team, South Alabama shot 50 percent from the field—their best mark since November—and converted 40 percent of their three-point attempts. This tournament has seen them average over 41 percent from beyond the arc.
The win is notable as it marks only their first victory over Marshall in five all-time meetings and is also significant because #12 seeds rarely advance this far; it last happened in 2010 when New Orleans reached the semifinals after upsetting Denver.
South Alabama limited Marshall—who ranked among national leaders in both three-pointers per game (13th) and blocks per game (19th)—to just eight threes and two blocks.
Head coach Yolisha Jackson commented on her team’s resilience: “We’re not supposed to be here from what everybody else says, but the people on that bus – not just our players and our coaches – know that we are more than capable, talented, prepared and ready to be here and go seven days. I’m so excited to be able to coach these kids one more day.”
Jackson also spoke about playing at Pensacola Bay Center: “We joke that whoever is coming up next for us has not won on this floor this year. We have won four now. The bracket is the bracket, and we’re going to take it and make an advantage for ourselves…We feel very confident walking into the Pensacola Bay Center and trying to perform at a very high level.”
Forward Daniela Gonzalez added: “It’s always fun to win with the people that we’ve got. For me, I just feel so grateful that my team is given the opportunity to play one more day. We do it for each other, the coaches and the program. We just want to keep going.”
This will be South Alabama’s first appearance in Sun Belt quarterfinals since 2018-19 under its current bracket system. The Jaguars have faced James Madison four times previously without recording a win; their most recent meeting resulted in an 88-52 loss earlier this season.
Saturday’s game will be available via streaming on ESPN+ with live stats provided through StatBroadcast; tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
For ongoing coverage of South Alabama women’s basketball visit usajaguars.com or follow @SouthAlabamaWBB on X (formerly Twitter), /SouthAlabamaAthletics on Facebook or @SouthAlabamaWBB on Instagram.
