University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Loses To DePaul, 93-72
1/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Files associated with this release:
Box Score
Southern Miss Loses To DePaul, 93-72
Freshman Michelle Poindexter led the Lady Eagles with 21 points |
CHICAGO, Ill. ? Michelle Poindexter came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, but it wasn't enough as No. 16 DePaul handed Southern Miss a 93-72 loss in women's basketball action Friday night in the DePaul Athletic Center.
Southern Miss, 13-4 overall and 1-3 in Conference USA, lost for the third time in as many games. DePaul improved to 17-1 and 5-0.
"We played a very good team tonight, " Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "They (DePaul) are not ranked in the top 20 for nothing. I thought we played well on defense, but we just didn't block out after they missed. We gave up entirely too many offensive rebounds and DePaul definitely took advantage of that."
DePaul jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game and quickly led by seven, 13-6, when Southern Miss went on a 7-2 run, cutting the lead to two, 15-13, at the 12:59 mark. DePaul ran its lead back to seven, 22-15, following a 5-2 run, but Southern Miss responded with a six unanswered points on two consecutive three-pointers by Lana Lewis to get within one point, 22-21, with 9:36 remaining before the half. From there, DePaul closed out the half outscoring the Lady Eagles, 19-11. The Blue Demons led 41-32 at the half.
DePaul opened the second half on a 13-5 run, giving the Blue Demons their largest lead of the night at 17, 54-37. Southern Miss cut the lead to 13 points, 56-43, but that was as close as Lady Eagles would get. DePaul finished the game with 28 second chance points. This was the first time this season a Southern Miss opponent pulled down 50 rebounds with DePaul holding a 58-34 rebounding edge, including 32 offensive rebounds. Both teams had a respectable field goal percent with Southern Miss shooting 42.6 percent from the field and DePaul 40.7 percent.
Lewis scored 15 points, 13 in the first half, for the Lady Eagles. Khara Smith led DePaul with 20 points and 13 rebounds, followed by Jenni Dant with 19 points, Charlene Smith added a double-double with 17points and 10 rebounds and Jenna Rubino rounded out the Blue Demon scoring with 16 points.
Following tonight?s game, the Lady Eagles conclude their road swing at Marquette on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 2 p.m.
