Southern Miss Outlasts Charlotte, 50-47
2/24/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Southern Miss Outlasts Charlotte, 50-47
Inspite of a season-high 30 turnovers, Southern Miss outlasted Charlotte, 50-47, earning the final spot in the 12-team Conference USA Tournament in Chicago, Mar. 1-4.
Southern Miss finishes the regular season, 11-16 and 4-10 heading into the C-USA Tournament, while Charlotte ended its season 15-12 and 7-7.
The game literally came down to the last shot attempt. Southern Miss led 50-47 with 5.8 seconds remaining in the game, when Sonja Brown connected on both free throws to give the Lady Eagles a three-point advantage. Charlotte had one last opportunity, but a Monica League three-point attempt was off the mark.
"I'm excited that we will get another opportunity to play," Head Caoch Rick Reeves said. "I thought our kids played hard today. I pleased that we were able to come back today and win this game."
Victoria Mason led a balanced scoring attack with nine points, followed by La'Tasha Sumerall and Tierra Lassiter adding eight points each. Jen Williams led Charlotte with a game-high 14 points and Peaches Harris added 10.
"We didn't want to change much after the half," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We went with Dana Jones to give us more quickness in the post. I thought Anna Udicova got us started in the first half, we used her more as a wing. We were able to post our wings and get some easy points."
Southern Miss led 24-22 at the half behind Mason's seven points. The Eagles continued to struggle with turnovers and had 18 in the first half. However, cold shooting by Charlotte (6-of-31) kept the Golden Eagles in the game.
Southern Miss opened the second half, reeling off nine unanswered points in the first 3:49 to take an 11-point lead, 33-22. Charlotte then put together a 17-1 run over 4:34 to take a five-point lead, 39-34, with 12:06 remaining.
Southern Miss regained the lead following a four-points each by Sumerall and Lassiter within a two-minute stretch. Charlotte fought back, but managed to get within one points, 48-47, with seven seconds remaining, but Brown sealed the win with two free throws.
With the win, Southern Miss snapped a five-game losing streak. The Golden Eagles will play Louisville, in 3 p.m., tip Mar. 1 in Chicago. The winner plays Cincinnati, Mar. 2, at 3 p.m.
TCU, finishing its first season in Conference USA, won the regular season title and the top seed with a 12-2 record, Houston and Cincinnati both finished second with an 11-3 record, but Houston received the second seed by the tie-breaker. DePaul enters the tournament the no. 4 seed, followed by Tulane (no. 5), Louisville (no. 6), Charlotte (no. 7), Marquette (no.8), Saint Louis (no. 9), Memphis (no. 10), Southern Miss (no. 11) and UAB (no.12). Game times are 1, 3, 6 and 8 p.m. on Mar. 1 and Mar.2. The semifinals are set for 2 and 4 p.m., Mar. 3, with the championship game set for 7 p.m., Mar. 4
-SouthernMiss.com-