Southern Miss Falls In Season Opener to Hampton, 48-47
11/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Southern Miss Falls In Season Opener to Hampton, 48-47
HAMPTON, Va. - Hampton's Halisi Johnson scored on a three-point play with 52 seconds remaining in the game, giving Hampton a one-point advantage and what proved to be the winning basket in a 48-47 victory over Southern Miss Friday night.
"I thought we played well enough to win," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We didn't take advantage of several scoring opportunities down the stretch. We have got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball on offense. Defensively, we did some good things, but we do have to get better."
Senior forward Dana Jones led the Lady Eagles with 16 points, while Sonja Brown pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Both teams committed 26 turnovers, and both teams scored 18 points off those turnovers.
Lynetta Sullivan led the Lady Pirates with 18 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Bianca Johnson with 10 points.
"We are a lot further ahead of what we were last year at this time," Reeves said. "Having Jessica Woods and Allison Story back is going to help. We don't have a lot of time to dwell on this loss because we have to get ready for Louisiana-Monroe. They will be tough at home and we have to do a better job of handling the pressure."
Hampton led by as many as five points in the first half on three occasions, but Southern Miss put together a 10-0 run over four minutes, taking a 20-15 lead at the 5:52 mark. Jones scored four of the 10 points in that span. Southern Miss held on and took a 24-18 lead into the half.
Southern Miss opened the second half with five unanswered points, giving the Lady Eagles an 11-point lead, 29-18, with just over two minutes gone. Hampton then chipped away at the lead, outscoring Southern Miss 11-4 over 3:20 to cut the lead to three, 33-30.
The Lady Eagles pulled ahead by six again, 38-32, with 10:02 remaining in the game. Over the next nine minutes, Southern Miss scored only seven points and committed four turnovers. Hampton cut the Eagles' lead to one, 45-44, following two free throws by LaShondra Dixon. Jones, then, hit two free throws with 1:27 remaining to give Southern Miss a three-point advantage, 47-44.
With 1:09 remaining, Nicole Brathwaite missed the second of two free throws, cutting the Southern Miss lead to two, 47-45, but the Lady Eagles could not control the rebound. Following a timeout, Halisi Johnson penetrated the lane for a layup, drawing a foul in the process. With the game tied, Johnson sank the free throw to give Hampton its first lead since 8:35 in the first half.
Southern Miss had an opportunity to win, but threw the ball away with two seconds remaining. However, the Lady Eagles got another opportunity when Hampton threw the ball away in their next possession, but Southern Miss turned the ball over on the inbounds play, giving Hampton the win.
Southern Miss travels to Louisiana-Monroe for a 3 p.m. game Sunday.