University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Women's Basketball Team Hosts Birmingham-Southern
12/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2007
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss women's basketball team hosts Birmingham-Southern Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcasted 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 (7-3) is coming off a 67-62 win at Louisiana Tech, when the Lady Eagles connected on 6-of-6 free throws in the last 60 seconds to seal the win. Pauline Love recorded her eighth double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing a season-high 18 rebounds, while Stephanie Helgeson tallied 14 points off the bench and Amber Eugene added 10 points.
Love, who earned Conference USA Co-Player of the Week honors, continues to lead the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.3 and 11.2, respectively, Eugene is averaging 11.3 points, while Helgeson is adding 10.8 points per game.
As a team, the Lady Eagles are averaging 78.0 points and 41.1 rebounds, while shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 73.2 percent from the line. Southern Miss has connected on 40-of-113 three-pointers for 35.4 percent.
Birmingham-Southern is 6-2, following a 76-56 win over Spring Hill College, in which Mallory Morring scored a career-high 26 points. Reba Ross recorded a double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.
Panthers coach Brad Hodge is in his third season at the helm of the Panther program. Hodge returns seven letterwinners from last year's squad that finished 8-22. Ross leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double with 18.5 points and 11.3 rebounds. Mallory Morring is the only other player averaging in double figures at 12.6 points per game. As a team, BSC is averaging 72.8 points and 42.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 73.8 percent from the line. The Panther defense is holding their opponents to 35.1 percent shooting and forcing 23.1 turnovers per game.
This is the third meeting between the two teams. The series is tied at 1-1. Birmingham-Southern won last year's meeting in Birmingham.
Following the BSC game, Southern Miss heads to Cancun, Mexico, for the Caribbean Classic, where the Lady Eagles will play Miami (Fla.), Dec. 17 and Illinois-Chicago, Dec. 18.
