JONESBORO, Ark. (3/5/20) – It was a tale of two halves for Arkansas State on Thursday night at First National Bank Arena, as the Red Wolves battled back from down 21 with 5:32 to go in the third quarter to defeat South Alabama 86-80.
 
The Jaguars (13-16, 8-9) led by 17 at the half, but the Red Wolves (11-17, 8-9 Sun Belt) outscored USA 56-33 in the second half, including 47-20 after USA attained its largest lead with 5:32 left to complete the comeback. A-State shot just over 29 percent in the first half before opening the offensive floodgates with a 59.5 percent mark in the second half.
 
"It was a tale of two halves," head coach Matt Daniel said. "I told them at the end of the first half that I was disgusted and then the second half was obviously a lot different, especially the start of the half. I'm proud of the resiliency that we came back with."
 
Jireh Washington scored 16 of the last 19 points for A-State as part of her team-high 20 points, leading four double-figure scorers. The feisty Red Wolves defense forced the Jaguars into 16 turnovers, with 12 of those occurring in the second half. Starr Taylor posted a season-high 12 points off the bench, while Morgan Wallace added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Payton Tennison chipped in 15 points on five made threes, with 12 of her points coming in the first half.
 
Peyton Martin scored her eight points in the second half, but it was defensively where the Pine Bluff, Arkansas, junior shined, forcing a game-high four steals.
 
As a team, the Scarlet and Black outscored the Jaguars 42-30 in the paint (34-14 in the second half), 18-12 off turnovers, 23-9 on fast breaks and 29-12 off the bench. The Red Wolves were edged in the rebounding column 46-39, but held a 20-19 advantage in the second half.
 
USA's Savannah Jones led all players with 21 points while Damaya Telemaque scored 19. Antoinette Lewis posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with Shaforia Kines notching 10 points.
 
Telemaque opened the contest with a three before Tennison tied things up early on the other end with a trey of her own. The Jaguars opened by scoring 16 of the first 19 points of the night before Tennison halted a 13-3 run with another three. The Red Wolves cut it down to a five-point deficit on a three by Jada Ford and free throws by Wallace. Kennedi Centers knocked down a three before the buzzer to give USA a 26-16 lead after one quarter.
 
The Jaguars went on an 11-2 run to open the second, stretching their lead out to 19 before A-State called a timeout with 6:32 remaining in the half. Taylor broke the run with a driving layup at the 5:48 mark, with the Red Wolves cutting it to 13 with under five minutes left in the half. USA's lead ballooned to as much as 20 before Tennison ended the half with a three with 26 seconds to go. South Alabama led 47-30 at the break.
 
After USA led by 21 with less than five remaining in the third, but A-State trimmed the deficit down to single digits with a 13-1 run to make it 63-54 with 48 seconds left. Lewis banked in a layup at the 30-second mark to give the Jaguars a 65-54 lead after three.
 
Wallace opened the fourth with a corner three with 8:50 to go to make it an eight-point affair, as the Red Wolves continued to claw away at the deficit. Back-to-back layups by Martin and Ford made it a seven-point game at 70-63 and forced the Jaguars to call a timeout with 6:41 to go.
 
Jones knocked down a three from the top of the arc to once again make it a 10-point game, but Washington and Wallace scored back-to-back buckets to trim it to six with less than five minutes to go. After a Kines trey at the 4:50 mark, it became the Jireh Washington show, as she heated up with her 16 point stretch in which the only other A-State bucket was a big one, as Ford drilled a go-ahead corner three with 1:11 to go. During that final four-minute stretch, the Red Wolves held USA to just four points.
 
Arkansas State closes out the regular season at 4 p.m. on Saturday, hosting Troy at First National Bank Arena. The game will be aired live on ESPN+ while the broadcast can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Radio Network on 95.3 The Ticket, as well as 970 AM and 96.9 FM.

For the latest on the A-State women's basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.