University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Lady Eagle Basketball Travels to SMU
2/10/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2012
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss looks to continue its winning ways when Lady Eagles travel to SMU on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
The Lady Eagle contest can be heard on WHXB-FM 96.5 or at www.SouthernMiss.com with Josh West, voice of the Lady Eagles, providing the play-by-play action.
Southern Miss Preview
The Lady Eagles are coming off their first home C-USA win with a 67-57 victory over East Carolina. Tanecka Carey produced her best scoring performance in league games after posting a game-high 23 points. Jamierra Faulkner finished with 15 points and seven assists while Nitesha Pierce and Ance Celmina added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Carey also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Black and Gold. For the third-consecutive game, the Lady Eagles shot a season-best 54 percent for the game including a 57.7 percent in the first half.
Carey and Faulkner lead the team in scoring with averages of 16.0 and 15.7 points, respectively. Carey also leads the team in rebounding at 6.1 boards per game. As a team, USM has continued to improve its field goal percent and now shoots 41.3 percent from the field and 61.8 percent from the line while averaging 60.3 points and 36.7 rebounds per outing.
Scouting SMU
The Mustangs enter the contest with a 12-11 overall record and 5-5 in league play. The Mustangs lost to Memphis on Thursday by a score of 60-55 in Dallas. Raven Short led the way with a game-high 16 points off the bench while Akil Simpson added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Brittney Hardy collected 13 rebounds. The Mustangs scored 18 second chance points off 24 offensive rebounds.
Simpson and Alisha Filmore are averaging in double figures with 11.1 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Three Mustangs are averaging 7.0 or more rebounds with Christine Elliott and Simpson leading the way with 7.3 rebounds per game each. Hardy, who is playing in her second game, has collected 20 rebounds. As a team, the Mustang offense is averaging 60.1 points per game while shooting 38.2 percent from the field and 67.0 percent from the line. SMU is averaging 38.5 rebounds per contest. Coach Rhonda Rompola is in her 21st season at SMU.
Series Notes: Southern Miss vs. SMU
This will be the ninth meeting between the two teams dating back to 1989. SMU leads the series 5-3 as the Lady Eagles won the initial meeting. The teams have played one overtime game with SMU winning that contest in the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament. Southern Miss won last year's meeting at home.
What's Next
Following the SMU game, Southern Miss returns home to begin a four-game homestand starting with UCF on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
