University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Falls To USF In Conference USA Tournament
11/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
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Southern Miss Falls To USF In Conference USA Tournament
Shannon Stueber led all scorers with 17 points |
?We have to give USF a lot of credit today,? Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis. ?The played very well, forcing us to do some things we didn?t want to do. We came out to tight and we didn?t give ourselves time to settle down and USF took advantage of that.?
The Bulls turned to their bench for an offensive spark in the first half scoring 14 of the team?s 29 points. For the game, the reserve unit combined for 28 points led by Nalini Miller?s team-high 14. Miller and starting guard Rachael Sheats shared top-scoring honors for the Bulls, who had a trio of players reach double figures. Jessica Dickson, a first-team All-C-USA performer added 12 points. Sheats also led the club with five steals, while Miller added four.
USF kept its lead around the 20-point clip throughout most of the second half before Southern Miss crept to within 12 points with just over four minutes remaining after a 7-0 run. The rally was short-lived as Fernandez quickly inserted his starters back into the game. The starters quickly turned a trio of turnovers into seven points during a 16-second span, which squashed any thoughts of a USM comeback.
?We played well for about three minutes in the second half,? McNelis said. ?We had some fight left in us and we were able to cut the lead to 12, then he (Fernandez) put his starters back in the game and they just put the clamps on us.?
?We came out with a lot of enthusiasm today,? USF head coach Jose Fernandez said. ?We came out and forced 19 turnovers (in the first half) and defensively we did what we needed to do. Offensively our shots just weren?t falling.?
Reserve point guard Chanae Early had eight first-half points as USF forced Southern Miss into 19 turnovers to build a commanding 29-12 lead at the break. The Bulls failed to take full advantage of the Golden Eagles? miscues making just 11-of-35 attempts from the floor in the first half.
USM forward Shannon Steuber led all scorers with 17 points. The Golden Eagles held a 43-33 rebounding edge as freshman Emer Foley corralled a game-high 13 boards. She just missed a double-double finishing with nine points.
The Golden Eagles dealt with their own struggles from the floor in the first half making just one field goal in the opening 14 minutes of play and finishing just 2-for-16 from the field for the half. The 12 first-half points matched an all-time low for Southern Miss and the Golden Eagles were the ninth team USF held to under 20 points in the first-half this season.
