University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Falls to South Alabama, 51-46
12/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Southern Miss Falls to South Alabama, 51-46
MOBILE, Ala. - South Alabama used an 18-1 run to open the second half, defeating Southern Miss 51-46, Sunday afternoon. Southern Miss had its three-game win streak snapped, fell to 5-3 on the season, while South Alabama evened its record at 4-4.
Dana Jones and Allison Story led the Lady Eagles with 13 points, each. Qiana Mitchell led the Jaguars with 16 points followed by Taneisha Russell with 15. Story also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
"We had a lot of distractions, finals week, not playing and a couple of kids with the flu," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "I don't mean to make excuses, but we were not mentally sharp today. We played a pretty good team. We knew they were going to key on our inside game, and they basically left a guard open. We are going to have to knock down some of those shots."
Southern Miss trailed by as many as six-points, 11-6, with 11:55 remaining in the half when the Lady Eagles went on a 8-2 run to take their first lead since a 4-3 lead at the 15:23 mark. The Jaguars, then scored four unanswered points to take a 19-14 lead, before the Golden Eagles finished the half with a 8-1 run over the last five minutes. The Eagles took a two-point lead into the half, 22-20.
South Alabama opened the second half with a 9-1 run, taking a 29-23 lead with only 2:41 into the half that forced Southern Miss to take a timeout. The Jaguars picked up where they left off, scoring nine more unanswered points.
The Golden Eagles was able to cut into that lead to five, 48-43, with 2:11 remaining in the game, following a 19-11 run over 11 minutes. That was as close as the Golden Eagles would get.
South Alabama forced the Golden Eagles into 23 turnovers, scoring 16 points off those miscues. The Golden Eagles held the rebounding edge, 44-33.
Southern Miss continues it road trip, playing at San Francisco, Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 9 p.m.
