Women's Basketball Team Begins Conference USA Play, Hosts UCF
12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- - The Southern Miss women's basketball team begins Conference USA play, hosting UCF Sunday afternoon in a 2 p.m., game. This is the conference opener for both teams.
The game will be broadcast over WXHB-FM 96.5 with the "Voice of the Lady Eagles" Jason Baker providing play-by-play action with former coach Kay James as the color analyst.
Southern Miss (6-7) is coming off a 71-63 win over Houston Jaguars in an exhibition game. Sophomore Kendra Reed poured in a game-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc. Lauren Pittman scored 13 points, while Amber Eugene turned in a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Kristin Chaney handed out 11 assists.
Eugene leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per game. Emer Foley, who missed the exhibition game because of an injury, leads the team in rebounding at 8.0 rebounds and is second in scoring at 16.4 points. She will be available for the UCF game. Kendra Reed is averaging 14.5 points per game, while Kristin Chaney leads the team in assists and steals.
As a team, Southern Miss is averaging 63.5 points and 38.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 73.2 percent from the line. The Lady Eagles are shooting 34.4 percent from three-point range. Reed leads the team with 24.
UCF (5-8) is coming off its fourth straight win, a 59-47 win over Iona. Keunta Miles led UCF with a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Francine Houston added 14 points. Miles and Houston lead the team in scoring, averaging 12.2 and 12.1 points per game, respectively. Miles also leads the team in rebounding at 6.5 points per game.
Head Coach Gail Striegler is in her eighth season with UCF. The Golden Knights returns only two starters from last year's team that finished 7-21.
Following the UCF game, Southern Miss hits the road for a pair of C-USA games against East Carolina on Jan. 5 and Marshall on Jan. 7.