Southern Miss
St. John's
No. 18 St. John's Defeats Southern Miss, 81-50
12/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2010
QUEENS, N.Y. - Junior Rachel Vigers registered her first double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds in a losing effort as Southern Miss lost to No. 18 St. John's by a score of 81-50.
Freshman Jamierra Faulkner added 14 points for the Lady Eagles to go with five assists and three steals. Southern Miss falls to 5-5 while St. John's improved to 10-1.
St. John's placed four players in double figure scoring led by Eugeneia McPherson with a game-high 23 followed by Shenneika Smith with 19, Sky Lindsay and Amanda Burakoski scored 10 points apiece.
"Hats off to St. John's, obviously, they are ranked No. 18 for a reason," Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "The one thing that makes their team very special is that they play within their game. Their players do a great job of playing their role.
"Our team, for whatever reason, came out and played with a little of fear," McNelis said. "We did not play with a lot of, what I call, intestinal fortitude, that fight, to be able to execute. Instead, we played very timid and our point guard play was not very good to start the game. I challenged her at half time and she responded very well in the second half. The player that showed up and ready to play was Rachel Vigers. She played very hard and she is truly a warrior for this basketball team."
Southern Miss scored the first two points of the game on a put back by Vigers. St. John's answered quickly with a basket from Da'Shena Stevens. The two teams traded baskets over 4:36, then; St. John's scored straight points to push the lead to nine, 18-9. Vigers then scored seven straight points to cut the Red Storm's lead to 18-16 at the 11:01 mark.
For the next four minutes, it was all St. John's as the Storm used a 10-0 for their first double digit lead of the game, 29-16. Tanesha Washington hit one of two free throws before SJU tacked on another six points for a 35-17 lead. St. John's ended the half with a 13-3 run for a 50-22 halftime lead.
The two teams traded baskets to start the second half, but the Red Storm's first-half lead was too much for the Lady Eagles to overcome.
Southern Miss' play improved in the second half as St. John's outscored the Lady Eagles, 31-28. Southern Miss forced SJU into 13 turnovers while limited its turnovers to just 10. For the second straight game, USM was held below 30 percent shooting from the field, finishing the game at 29.9 percent.
Southern Miss will now play the loser of Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara at 11 a.m. central in the consolation game of the St. John's-Chartwells Holiday Classic.
