University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss' Season Ends With 65-51 Loss At Tulane
2/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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Southern Miss' Season Ends With 65-51 Loss At Tulane
Lana Lewis scored 10 points in her final Southern Miss game |
NEW ORLEANS, La. ? Southern Miss Lady Eagle basketball team ended its season with a 65-51 loss at Tulane in women?s basketball action Friday night in Fogelman Arena. Southern Miss finished with a 14-13 record and 2-12 in league play, losing its last eight games. With the win, Tulane earns the final spot in the Conference USA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, Mar. 4-7.
"The effort certainly was there tonight," Head Coach Rick Reeves said. "We just didn?t hit our shots. We have been plagued with turnovers for most of the season and those really hit us early in the game. We continued to play hard in the second half, but we just couldn?t keep anything going. We spent a lot of energy trying to get back in the game. Tulane answered every run we made at them."
Cold shooting certainly played its part in the loss, as Southern Miss finishing the game shooting 31.9 percent from the field. Lana Lewis wrapped her career scoring a team-high 10 points in her final game. Tulane?s Lakethia Hampton led all scorers with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Kelly Nadeau scored 19 points with D?Aundra Henry and Tiffany Wilson adding 15 and 19 points, respectively.
Both teams began the game trading baskets through the first eight minutes. With the Green Wave leading, 18-14, Southern Miss hit a cold shooting spell that lasted 8:49. In the meantime, Tulane used an 8-0 run to push the lead to 12 points, 26-14, with 3:07 remaining in the half. During that span, Southern Miss was 0-of-10 from the field with five turnovers. Southern Miss finished the half shooting 25 percent with 11 turnovers. Tulane held a rebounding edge, 25-15, that included 11 offensive rebounds.
Tulane opened the second half, pushing its lead to 19 points, 44-25, with 12:55 remaining in the game. Southern Miss then put together an 11-2 run, cutting the Green Wave lead to nine points, 46-37, over a 4:45 span. The Lady Eagles continued to chip away at the Tulane lead and eventually cut the lead to six points, 53-47, with 5:26 remaining. Tulane regrouped and scored eight unanswered points, taking a 61-47 lead. Southern Miss could get no closer.
Tulane finished the game out rebounding Southern Miss 42-28. On the bright side, the Lady Eagles had only seven second half turnovers. Four Lady Eagles end their respective careers, Tierra Lassiter, Marlena Lee, Lana Lewis and Allison Story.
