University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagles Fall In a Close One, 59-57
1/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Files associated with this release:
Box Score
Lady Eagles Fall In a Close One, 59-57
Senior guard Lana Lewis led Southern Miss with 15 points |
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The Charlotte 49ers held off a late Southern Miss-rally and capitalized on 22-of-30 free throws, including six in the last 30 second, escaping with a 59-57 victory Friday night. The loss was the first at home this season.
The Lady Eagles (13-2, 1-1) scored the first three points of the game, before Charlotte (10-6, 3-0) reeled off 11 straight points to take an 11-3 lead. Southern Miss scored only two baskets in the first 13 minutes of the game. Charlotte built as much as a 16-point lead, 25-9, with just over minutes remaining before the half. Southern Miss then outscored the 49ers 15-0 to cut the lead to one at the half, 25-24.
"Charlotte is a championship team that averaged 71 points per game and to hold them to 59 points, I thought we did a good job," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We were a little nervous early and that contributed to us being behind. We told the team to just play hard and keep fighting."
Southern Miss opened the second half, scoring the first eight points in the first three minutes, then cooled off considerably. Charlotte began to chip away at the Eagles' seven point lead, outscoring Southern Miss 17-4 over a 10-minute stretch, giving Charlotte a 42-37 lead at the 5:14 mark.
Charlotte had an eight-point lead, 52-44, with 1:57 remaining, when Southern Miss made its final run, but came up short. Daniels hit the two free throws that proved to be the game winners with seven seconds remaining. Southern Miss' Lewis took one last three-point attempt, drawing a foul and made all three free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining. The Eagles then knocked down a long pass, but couldn't control it as time expired.
Charlotte finished the game going 22-of-30 from the line and shot just 29.1 percent from the field while Southern Miss finished the game shooting 38 percent and 71 percent from the line. The Golden Eagles won the battle of the boards, 44-32, but committed 25 turnovers.
Following tonight?s game, the Lady Eagles will conclude their homestand with a game against East Carolina on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
