Cincinnati Ends Southern Miss Season, 61-42
3/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cincinnati Ends Southern Miss Season, 61-42
MEMPHIS, Tenn. --- Seniors Dana Jones and Sonja Brown scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, in a 61-42 loss to No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament, Friday afternoon. Southern Miss concludes its season with a 14-15 record, while Cincinnati advances to the semifinals against the winner of DePaul-Louisville game, Saturday.
Valerie King and K. B. Sharp led the Bearcats (22-6) with 19 points each and Debbie Merrill added her 11th double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
"I just want to say how proud I am of our team," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We fought through a lot of injuries and adversity this season. I am proud of our seniors.
"You have go to give Cincinnati a lot of credit," Reeves continued. "They are a good basketball team and they are 22-6 for a reason. We were hoping to get to the free throw line more today by taking the basketball inside. We are a finesse team, not a physical team and sometimes that happens to you in a tournament."
Southern Miss fell behind early, but managed to claw its way back into the game and eventually take the lead, 10-7, by the 13:27 mark in the first half. Cincinnati then put together a 21-5 run over 7:10, taking a 28-15 lead. Cincinnati led 34-19 at the half.
Cincinnati continued to build on its lead, and led by as many as 21 points, 44-23, with 15:03 remaining. Southern Miss then put together a 15-2, cutting the lead to single digits, 46-38, with 6:50 remaining in the game. The Lady Eagles trailed only eight points, 48-40, with 4:47 remaining, before Cincinnati closed out the game with a 13-2 run.
"We went on a run and we cut the lead to eight points and then we made some mistakes," Reeves said. "We were in a two-shot bonus, so we wanted to take the ball inside and try to draw fouls, but instead we made one pass and shot three-pointers. We didn't need to do that, we needed to get the ball down low. Jones and Brown were both shooting well."
Southern Miss finished the game with only 13 turnovers and shot 34 percent from the field. Cincinnati held the rebounding edge, 41-29. Southern Miss was 0-for-6 from three-point range, while Cincinnati connected on 6-of-16.
Six seniors closed out their careers at Southern Miss. Jessica Woods finished with 948 points, 52 points shy of 1,000 points. She ranks sixth all-time in rebounding with 668. La'Tasha Sumerall finished with 583 points and 217 rebounds. She ranks sixth in three-point field goals made and fifth in the three-point field goals attempted with 319. Dana Jones ended her career with 709 points and 514 rebounds and Sonja Brown finished as the all-time leader in blocked shots with 190. She scored 336 points and grabbed 408 rebounds.
SouthernMiss.com