Southern Miss
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UTEP
Lady Eagles Fall to UTEP 71-59
1/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss women's basketball team connected on just 10-of-25 from the free throw and the Lady Eagles fell to UTEP by a score of 71-59 in Conference USA action Saturday afternoon.
Southern Miss falls to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in league play while UTEP improves to 8-5 and 3-1.
"You have to stay hats off to UTEP because they played basically punched us in the mouth," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We didn't fight back instead we allowed them to take total control in that first half. I'm pleased with what we did in the second half as far as effort. Our effort very good in the second half. We played with a purpose.
"They got every 50-50 ball," McNelis said. "They scored off offensive rebounds. Today, they were the most physical team on the floor and we did not handle the physical play."
Kierra Jordan and Jerontay Clemons came off the bench to lead Southern Miss in scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Tamara Jones and Megan Brown added nine points each. Jordan and Clemons also had a team-best seven rebounds.
The teams started the game trading baskets before Alex Coyne connected on a three to put the Lady Eagles ahead 7-3. Southern Miss was able to maintain a four-point advantage until the 10:36 mark in the half, 15-11. UTEP then scored nine straight points that included a pair of three-pointers in taking a 20-15 lead. Coyne added a basket to cut the lead to 20-17before the Miners outscored the Lady Eagles 11-6 over the final five minute in taking a 31-24 lead into the half.
UTEP opened the second half scoring the first 10 points to take a 41-24 lead. Southern Miss could not get its offense in gear while the Miners maintained a double digit lead. With UTEP leading 45-29, Southern Miss then scored seven straight points to get the margin under 10, 45-36, but UTEP answered again with four straight points. From there, the Lady Eagles used an 11-4 run over a four-minute span to close within four points, 53-49. UTEP kept the pressure on hitting timely threes whenever the Lady Eagles got within striking distance. The Miners closed out the final three minutes of the game outscoring Southern Miss 13-5.
"All their threes were timely threes," said McNelis. "We would have a run and then they would bury us. They had players that stepped up and really shot the ball. I'm proud of the fight we showed from the 18-minute mark on."
The Miners got 24 points off 16 Lady Eagle turnovers and 18 second chance points. The Miner held the rebounding edge 42-31. However, Southern Miss out shot the Miners 44.2 percent to 41.1 percent from the field.
Cameasha Turner led the Miners with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds while Irene Gari chipped in 10 points.
Southern Miss will now travel to Middle Tennessee for a Jan. 15 slate before traveling to UAB on Jan. 17. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. against the Hilltoppers.
