Southern Miss
Eastern Kentucky
Women's Basketball Team Holds Off Eastern Kentucky, 81-76
11/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2006
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- - Southern Miss held off a late Eastern Kentucky rally for an 81-76 win in the championship game of the La Quinta Inn Lady Eagle Classic presented by WXXV Fox 25 Saturday afternoon in Reed Green Coliseum.
Southern Miss evened its record to 3-3 on the season, while Eastern Kentucky dropped to 2-3. The last time Southern Miss won the Classic was 2003.
Southern Miss Emer Foley led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Kendra Reed and Amber Eugene with 19 points apiece. Liz Biland hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds. Crystal Jones led EKU with 18 points with Niki Avery adding 15 points, all on three-pointers, Amber Kirkpatrick and Andrea Jenkins chipped in 14 points each.
Southern Miss Foley, Reed and Eugene were named to the all-tournament team along with Jones and Ashley Cazee of Eastern Kentucky and Ty Moore of Louisiana Tech. Eugene was voted the tournament most valuable player.
"This was a good game and I thought we made a step in the right direction," Head Coach Joye Lee McNelis said. "This team is beginning to grow. We got good execution from several different players. I thought the difference was balanced scoring again. That is something that we to be able to do in order for us to be successful.
"We got a solid rebounding game out of Liz today," McNelis said. "When we look at the big picture, we get a balanced attack from our starters and we have Lauren Pittman coming off the bench, giving us some energy and double scoring."
Southern Miss led the game from start to finish. The Lady Eagles jumped out early, pushing their lead to nine, midway through the first half, 21-12. EKU rallied to cut the lead to three points, 21-18, before Reed outscored the EKU 8-2 for a 29-20 lead.
Southern Miss led at the half, 43-31, connecting on 45.5 percent shooting from the field, including 57.1 percent from three-point range and 81.8 percent from the line. Southern Miss only had four first-half turnovers.
Southern Miss had its largest lead, 50-34, at the 16:00 mark in the second half, when EKU began to chip away at the Lady Eagle lead. Over a nine-minute stretch, EKU cut the lead to six, 64-58.
Southern Miss pushed its lead back to nine points, 67-58, only the see EKU use an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one, 67-66. Southern Miss was able to hold on, connecting on 5-of-6 free throws in the last 31 seconds.
Southern Miss returns to action on Nov. 28 when the Lady Eagles travel to Louisiana-Monroe for a 7 p.m. game.
Louisiana Tech (2-3) defeated Grambling State (0-5) in the consolation game, 70-50. Shan Moore led Tech with 18 points and Ty Moore added 11 points. Kourtney Sherman scored 11 points for Grambling.
