Southern Miss Wins Consolation Game, Defeats Dartmouth, 74-72
12/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Southern Miss Wins Consolation Game, Defeats Dartmouth, 74-72
Lana Lewis led the Lady Eagles with a season-high 19 points, La'Tasha Sumerall scored 18 points, including the game winner, and Victoria Mason added 12. Dartmouth was led by its one-two punch combo of Katharine Hanks and Keri Downs with 29 and 20 points, respectively.
"I'm really pleased with these kids," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "Our key tonight was to come out and shoot the ball with confidence, be aggressive. We have been so tentative about scoring. I thought our players did a great job. Hanks and Downs are tremendous scorers."
Both teams came out scoring at will through the first eight minutes of the game. The teams traded basket-for-basket. Dartmouth took the early lead, 16-11, when Lewis was fouled attempting a three-pointer and went to the free throw and hit all three to cut the lead to two, 16-14. Southern Miss, then, went on a 10-6 run to take a 24-22 lead. Southern Miss continued to score basket-for-basket with Dartmouth, before using a 11-5 run to take a seven point lead, 35-28.
"Lana has been a warrior," Reeves said. "Lana had a good shooting day, but LaTasha Sumerall made a huge difference today. She is a streaky-shooter, but she did a great job at the free throw line. We ran that last play for Anna and Tasha. We have a lot of confidence in those two players."
Southern Miss led by as many as eight, 38-30, at the 7:42 mark, when Dartmouth scored 10 unanswered points, to take a 40-38 lead with 3:56 before the half. Dartmouth held on and took a 46-42 lead into intermission.
"I thought one of the keys tonight was our outrebounding Dartmouth," Reeves said. "They are a big team and they were not intimidated by our height."
Southern Miss started the second half with a three-pointer by Sumerall to cut into Dartmouth's lead. Over the next five minutes, both teams traded baskets. There were lead changes and two ties. Dartmouth held a five-point lead, 59-54, at the 10:42 mark. The Lady Eagles chipped away at that lead, cutting the lead to two, 63-61, over two minutes. Dartmouth, then, scored six unanswered points to build its lead to eight, 69-61, with 4:48 remaining.
"There for a while, I wasn't hitting my shots," Lewis said. "I had to tell myself to keep shooting and they will eventually fall. I just relaxed and they went in. I wasn't rushing my shot today and I had some really good looks."
Lewis finished the game shooting 5-of-9, including 4-of-7 from beyond three-point range. Lewis started the comeback, hitting a three at the 4:33 mark to cut Dartmouth's lead to five. The Eagles then got back-to-back threes from Sumerall and Tierra Lassiter to give the Lady Eagles a 70-69 lead with 3:00 remaining. In the last 1:24, the Golden Eagles got two free throws from Lewis for a three-point advantage, 72-69.
Dartmouth was not done. With 30 seconds remaining, Downs managed to get free for a game-tying three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining. Southern Miss got the ball back with 13 seconds and tried twice to get the ball in bounds. With only two seconds remaining, Lassiter found a wide-open Sumerall for the a 10-footer. Dartmouth made a long pass that was tipped by Sonja Brown right in the hands of a Dartmouth player, whose three-point attempt was off the mark.
"It feels good to get a road win," Sumerall said. "There are some things I still need to work on. I had a big defensive assignment today in keeping Downs from scoring in the secondhalf. I slipped on that last three-pointer she made to tie the game."
Southern Miss held the rebounding edge, pulling down 52 rebounds, while Dartmouth had 39. The Golden Eagles finished the game with only 13 turnovers, including five in the second half. However, the biggest improvement from the Kentucky loss, was the Golden Eagles connecting on 19-of-20 from the free throw line.
Southern Miss opens Conference USA play, beginning Jan. 5, at Tulane.