University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagles Beat Tulane, 68-51, Improve To 13-1
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Lady Eagles Beat Tulane, 68-51, Improve To 13-1
Freshman Deondra Carter led all scorers with a game- and season-high 25 points |
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss' basketball Lady Eagles continued to build on its best start ever, posting a 32-16 halftime lead and carrying that momentum to a 68-51 victory over C-USA rival Tulane in Green Coliseum here Saturday night.
With the victory, Head Coach Rick Reeves' team improved to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in Conference USA action. Tulane dropped to 7-7 overall and 0-1 in the league. The win also snapped a six-game losing streak to the Green Wave.
The Lady Eagles scored the first five points of the game, and reeled off the final six points of the half to build the 16-point halftime margin. Deondra Carter led all scorers with 10 first half points, on 5-of-7 shooting. Southern Miss also connected on 15-of-26 (.577) in the first half, and outrebounded the visitors 20-12 in the first 20-minutes, with Tierra Lassiter leading both teams with four.
"If someone had told me tonight that we would dominate like we did, I would told them they were crazy," Reeves said. "I was proud of the way we played. We stuck to our game plan. At the end of the game we seemed to get a little too cautious, we seemed to be playing not to lose rather than to win."
Southern Miss pushed that 16-point halftime lead to as many as 25 points, 50-25, midway through the second period and held off a late Tulane push to finish the 16-point victory.
Carter led the winners with 25 points, making 11-of-15 shots from the field and picking off a game-high nine rebounds. Lana Lewis added 13 points and Michelle Poindexter 10 to round out Southern Miss' double-digit scorers. USM finished 27-of-47 (.574) from the field, and collected 39 rebounds, to just 24 for Tulane.
Lakethia Hampton led the Green Wave with 16 points and Kelly Nadeau and Jami Montagnino added 11 and 10 respectively. Tulane finished the game shooting .361, on 22-of-61 shooting.
Following tonight's game, the Lady Eagles will continue their homestand with a weekend series with Charlotte (Jan. 16) and East Carolina (Jan. 18).
