Southern Miss
Memphis
Southern Miss Lady Eagles Down Memphis, 76-55
1/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2007
HATTIESBSURG, Miss. -- - Sophomore Amber Eugene scored a game-high 24 points and teammates Kendra Reed and Lauren Pittman added 18 and 15 points, respectively, in leading Southern Miss past Memphis, 76-55, in Conference USA action Friday night.
The Lady Eagles improved to 9-8 overall and 3-1 in league play, while Memphis dropped to 3-15 and 0-4.
Sophomore Rachael Manuel hauled in a career-high nine rebounds and scored six points on 2-of-2 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Kristin Chaney grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and handed out eight assists with no turnovers. Ashley Thornton led Memphis with 22 points to go with a game-high 14 rebounds.
"I believe one of the keys to the games was setting the tempo," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We got some easy points in transition, but you have to give them credit for trying to slow the game."
 Kristin Chaney pulled down a team-high 10 reobounds, dished out eight assists and did not have any turnovers  | |
Southern Miss upped its lead to seven points, 32-25, with 2:08 remaining in the half, before the Lady Tigers used a 7-0 run, knotting the game at 32-32. Southern Miss closed out the half on two free throws by Eugene, taking a 34-32 halftime lead.
Memphis scored the first basket to open the second half, tying the score at 34-34. For the next five minutes, both team struggled with its shooting from the field. With the scored tied at 38-all, Southern Miss then used a 23-13 run over an eight minute span, pushing its lead to double-digits, 61-49. Memphis did not threaten again.
"The two best things we did in the second half, was No. 1, we were able to execute our offense, and we didn't let them get second and third shots like we did in the first half," McNelis said.
Southern Miss finished the game shooting 42.9 percent from the field, but committed only 11 turnovers. The Lady Eagles scored 25 points off 22 Memphis miscues. The Lady Tigers did out rebound Southern Miss, 42-38.
Southern Miss returns to action on Sunday against UAB at 2 p.m., in a nationally televised game on CSTV as part of the Conference USA package.
