Lady Eagles Claim Classic Crown, Defeat Birmingham Southern, 76-42
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Lady Eagles Claim Classic Crown, Defeat Birmingham Southern, 76-42
Junior Tierra Lassiter came off the bench to score 16 points. Ricka Spears led the Panthers with eight points and April Brown pulled down six rebounds.
"We knew coming into the game today that Birmingham Southern was a good three-point shooting team," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We really wanted to focus defensively on that part of their game. I thought the kids did a nice job of denying the three-point shot. I liked the way we were able to control the boards and we stuck to our game plan."
There were four ties in the first three minutes in the game, then, with the score tied at 8, Southern Miss outscored Birmingham Southern 16-4 over the next six minutes, taking a 24-12 lead. The Lady Eagles continued to pull away the remainder of the half and led 45-21 at the half.
Southern Miss opened the second half with a 10-8 run over the first seven minutes and nine seconds, building its lead to 26 points, 55-29. Over the next two minutes, the Lady Eagles outscored the Panthers 10-2 and led 64-31.
Southern Miss held Birmingham Southern to 35.2 percent shooting from the field, including a 0-of-14 from three-point range and forced 22 turnovers.
Once again, all 13 players had an opportunity to play, with no player playing any more than 23 minutes. The Lady Eagles finished the game shooting 47.6 percent from the field, but was 50 percent from three-point range. Southern Miss outrebounded Birmingham Southern, 49-29.
Southern Miss will take a break for exams and return to action, Dec. 15, when the Lady Eagles travel to South Alabama.
In the consolation game, Tennessee-Martin defeated Mississippi Valley, 70-60. Julie Young and Torre Thomas led UT-Martin (2-4) with 13 points each and LaShanta Morrow added 12 points. Robin Williams and Uri Honeysucker led Valley with 13 points, each, and Natasha Booth chipped in 10.
Honeysucker of MVSU and Amy Watson of Tennessee-Martin were named to the all-tournament team, and joining them on the all-tournament team were Ricka Spears and Lindsay Boyett of Birmingham Southern, Dana Jones and Sonja Brown of Southern Miss. Jones was voted the most valuable player in the tournament.