Southern Miss
Kentucky
Lady Eagles Fall to No. 13 Kentucky, 88-71
11/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2011
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
"We fought hard," said coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "We gained that momentum and we played poise for that entire first half. I thought our team played well and with a tremendous amount of heart."
The No. 13 Wildcats opened the game on a 12-0 run, taking advantage of eight Southern Miss turnovers along the way, but the Lady Eagles rebounded to force the Wildcats into an 0-for-9 slump over the next two minutes to bring it to 12-6.
Southern Miss fought back to a 17-15 game behind a pair of threes from Jamierra Faulkner and Tanecka Carey with 13:18 to go in the first half.
A quick strip from Faulkner led to a Carey lay-up to knot the game at 19 and Carey's and-one bucket gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game, 20-19, with 9:13 remaining.
The Lady Eagles built a 24-19 lead with a 9-0 run covering six minutes as they forced the Wildcats into another 0-for-9 shooting dip.
Trailing 31-26, Kentucky's A'dia Mathies' seven-point flurry in the final two minutes of the half rallied the Wildcats to an 11-0 run and a 37-33 lead going into the break.
In the first half, the Lady Eagles combined to shoot 11-of-25 (44-percent) from the field and held the Wildcats to just 15-of-51 (29-percent). The 33 points scored by the Lady Eagles were the most Kentucky has allowed in the first half this season.
Kentucky built a seven-point lead early as they opened on a 12-9 run to make it 49-42 with 15:52 remaining.
The Lady Eagles drew to within three, 52-49, behind the play of Faulkner and Carey who cut the lead from down from eight.
Kentucky ran its lead to 16, up 67-51 with 10:57 to go, but the Lady Eagles rallied in the final half to within seven, 72-65, behind Sedreka Plummer's 12 point flurry.
"I think there are some things you have to give Kentucky credit for," said McNelis. "We played them in zone because we felt like that would be the only way physically we could guard them. They hammered that ball in and took advantage of the slide pass and that's where we struggled. They played very well on the offensive glass."
Southern Miss won the shooting battle, going 50-percent (26-of-52) from the field, compared to just 34.8-percent (31-of-89) from the Wildcats, but Kentucky managed to force 31 turnovers and turn them into 36 points.
The Lady Eagles return to the court no Nov. 25, when they kick off play in the Lady Eagles Thanksgiving Classic in Reed Green Coliseum.
