Southern Miss
Mercer
Women's Basketball Falls To Mercer 51-49
12/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2005
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -
Mercer-Southern Miss Box Score in PDF Format
The Southern Miss Lady Eagle basketball team dropped a 51-49 decision to Mercer today, before 633 in Reed Green Coliseum.
With the loss, Southern Miss falls to 3-6 overall, while Mercer improves to 2-5.
"Mercer did a phenomenal job in setting the tempo of the game," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We didn't create any easy shots out of our defense. Our defense as a team was horrendous tonight. Our execution was horrendous. I think it was the worst performance we've had all year."
In the first half, Southern Miss opened the game with a three-point basket from Ashley Boehnel and took an 8-3 lead with 13:59 to play on another three by Boehnel.
Mercer then used an 8-0 run to take a three-point lead, 11-8 with11:03 remaining, before the Lady Eagles took a 17-13 lead, thanks to a 9-2 run with 6:28 to play. But Mercer used an 11-0 run from that point, taking a seven point lead, 24-17 with 2:28 to play, as the Lady Bears took a 24-20 halftime advantage.
Southern Miss opened the second half on a 16-7 run, to take a five point advantage, 36-31 with 12:05 to play. With Mercer leading by four, 46-42 with 37 seconds remaining, two free throws by Kendra Reed made the score 46-44 with 24 seconds to play. The Lady Eagles fouled on the inbound play, but Mercer's Erin Keller connected on two free throws to give the Bears a four-point advantage. After a Southern Miss turnover with 21 seconds remaining, Keller again connected on two free throws, giving Mercer a 50-44 advantage. Southern Miss cut the lead to four on two free throws by Reed with 11 seconds remaining, and following a Lady Eagle foul, Mercer's Tanya Kessenich missed two free throws to give Southern Miss hope with nine seconds remaining. Ashley Harrell connected on a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining, but Sally Skeldon connected on 1-2 free throws to seal the game.
Mercer out-shot southern Miss 33.3 percent (17-51) to 31.3 percent (15-48). The Lady Bears also held a 41-36 advantage in rebounds.
Boehnel led Southern miss with 17 points, while Amber Eugene added 10. Liz Biland added a game-high 12 rebounds.
Keller finished with 18 points for Mercer, while Sarah Russell added 11 and Courtney Hall added 10.
Southern Miss returns to action on Dec. 21, playing at Arkansas Little-Rock in a 7 p.m., contest.
