Lady Eagles Lose To TCU, 69-63
2/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lady Eagles Lose To TCU, 69-63
HATTIESBURG, Miss. --- Southern Miss shot just .333 (11-33) in the second half, and made only 10-of-18 free throws in a 69-63 Conference USA loss to TCU at Green Coliseum here Friday night.
Head Coach Rick Reeves, his staff and players will not have much time to dwell on that loss, though, as Houston visits Green Coliseum for a 2:30 p.m., Sunday game. That game will be the final home game of the season for the Lady Eagles, who will finish the regular season with games at Charlotte (Feb. 28) and at East Carolina (Mar. 2). Sunday's game also will be "Senior Day" for six Lady Eagles who will finish their home careers for Southern Miss.
Southern Miss (12-12,5-6) shot .414 in the first half, limited the visitors to .355 shooting while building a 33-28 halftime lead that could have been even bigger. After TCU (13-12,6-5) scored the first basket of the first two points of the game, Southern Miss ran off 11-straight points over a 3:36 period and led by as many as many as 11 points (24-13) with 5:33 left in the half. TCU then cut that lead to two points (30-28) with :54 left, before Southern Miss hit a three-pointer near the end of the half.
In the second half, Southern Miss led by as many as seven points, before TCU fought back with a 17-3 run that gave the visitors a 53-46 lead at the 9:33 mark. Though the Lady Eagles eventually cut that lead to one point, 60-59, with 3:28 remaining in the game. TCU then outscored Southern Miss 9-2 to put the game out of reach.
"TCU started the season with some injuries, but they're playing really well right now," Reeves said. "We have to get our kids healthy. We've got senior day Sunday and then go on the road for two games and it's not going to be easy."
Junior guard Marlena Lee said the team played well the first half, but failed to carry that into the second half. "We didn't take care of the ball and I thought they (TCU) hit the offensive boards harder in the second half. We had some periods in the game when we didn't score and TCU took advantage of those."
La'Tasha Sumerall said changing defenses on the part of TCU gave the Lady Eagles trouble. "They changed defenses in the second half and we did not adjust well to those changes. We hit the offensive boards hard in the second half, but just weren't able to finish when we needed to." The Lady Eagles finished the game with 20 offensive rebounds.
TCU's Amy Pack led all scorers with 20 points for TCU. She got scoring help from Ebony Shaw with 16 points and Sandora Irvin who added 13. For Southern Miss, Allison Story made 6-of-10 shots for 16 points. Sumerall added 11 and Lee 10 more for the Lady Eagles.
Southern Miss shot .371 (23-62) from the field, while TCU was .456 (26-57). The Lady Eagles easily won the rebounding battle, 44-48. Southern Miss' Dana Jones led both teams with nine boards.