Southern Miss
Tennessee State
Women's Basketball Downs Tennessee State, 73-64
12/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2010
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior forward Tanesha Washington tied a career-high 27 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in leading Southern Miss past Tennessee State, 73-64, Saturday.
Rachel Vigers scored 19 points and Jamierra Faulkner registered her third double-double with 12 points and 12 assists for the Lady Eagles.
"Tanesha played great in the first half," Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "She then came in segments in the second half and played unbelievable where she was rebounding and scoring on every possession. There were times during the game where her emotional play gave this team what we needed to be successful."
Southern Miss snapped an 18-game road losing streak with the win, improving to 5-3, while Tennessee State dropped to 3-7.
We had some solid play from several different players tonight," McNelis said. "Tanesha was our emotional leader. Jamierra took over some parts of the game which was huge. And then, I believe you can't over look steady play of Rachel. She just gives you what you have to have."
Tennessee State opened the game converting on a three-point play to take a 3-0 lead before Brittany Johnson answered with a basket for 3-2. Over the next five minutes, neither team was able to generate any offense as the two teams combined for 0-for-19 from the field. Washington ended the drought with a jumper at the 14:14 mark to put USM up 4-3. TSU came right back and scored the next four points in regaining a 7-4 lead.
The teams battled to an 11-11 tie before Southern Miss used a 15-6 run in running out to a 26-20 lead. TSU cut the lead to four on consecutive baskets. The Lady Eagles closed out the half with an 8-3 run for a 34-25 lead at the half. Washington had 13 points and 11 rebounds at the half.
Southern Miss opened the second half with an 8-2 run over 4:04 for a 42-27 lead. For the next five minutes, the Lady Eagles maintained a double digit lead. With USM leading, 59-42, Tennessee State began chipping away and eventually got the lead down to single digits in using a 12-2 run to get within 61-54 with 5:26 remaining.
Southern Miss regrouped and scored six unanswered points with Vigers doing most of the damage in pushing the lead to 67-54 with 3:37 remaining. From there, the teams traded baskets until TSU was able to outscore Southern Miss, 6-2, to get within 71-62. Washington added her finals points when she got lose for a long pass from Vigers to give the Eagles a 73-62 with 22 seconds remaining.
Kimy Haynes led TSU with 15 points followed by Meredith Stafford and Kesi Hess chipped in 11 points apiece.
The Lady Eagles finished the game shooting 47.7 percent for the game after shooting 65.4 percent in the second half. USM won the battle of the boards, out rebounding TSU, 41-32.
Southern Miss returns home to host in-state rival Mississippi State on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m.
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