Lady Eagles Defeat Southern Illinois, 55-48

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Lady Eagles Defeat Southern Illinois, 55-48

Deondra Carter scored a season-high 20 points

HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss snapped a three-game losing streak, defeating Southern Illinois, 55-48, Saturday evening in Reed Green Coliseum.

Deondra Carter led the Lady Eagles (3-4) with a game-high 20 points, followed by Shannon Stueber with 14 points. Amy Hayden led SIU (1-6) with 15 points and Daphney Desamours scored 13 points for the Salukis.

?I am proud of this team tonight because we cut our turnovers in half and that gave us an opportunity to win,? Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. ?I?m proud of how composed we played on offense tonight. When Erica Grant went out with an injury, I thought Kelsey Gurganus did a phenomenal job of taking care of the basketball.?

Southern Illinois scored the first basket of the game, but the Lady Eagles quickly tied the score at 2-2. SIU regained the lead before Southern Miss used a 6-0 run, taking an 8-4 lead. The Lady Eagles never trailed again in the half, but SIU managed to cut the lead to one, 23-22, at the 3:34 mark. Southern Miss closed out the half with a 4-0 run for a 27-22 halftime lead.

?Having Dianca Jones tonight made a big difference,? McNelis said. ?She did a great job of helping control the tempo.?

Southern Miss shot 52 percent in the first half. Only two free throws were taken in the half, SIU was 0-of-2 from the line. The Lady Eagles also had 13 first half turnovers, but kept the turnovers to a minimum in the second half with only six.

SIU opened the second half with a 6-0 run, taking a 28-27 lead 2:14 into the half. Southern Miss then scored seven-straight points to push its lead to six, 34-28, with 13:31 remaining and never trailed again. SIU managed to cut the lead to one on multiple occasions, with the last time at the 8:00 mark. From there, Southern Miss outscored SIU 18-11 the rest of the half.

Southern Miss finished the game shooting 46.9 percent from the field and had 14 steals. This was the first time since the season opener that an opponent out rebounded the Lady Eagles, 41-33.

Southern Miss returns to action Dec. 17 when the Lady Eagles host Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a rare ?home? game on the Gulf Coast in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in a 6 p.m., game.

Lady Eagles Defeat Southern Illinois, 55-48

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