Southern Miss
North Texas
Lady Eagle Hoops Down North Texas 67-55
1/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss women's basketball team closed out the first half on a 14-2 and opened the second half using a 9-0 run in securing a 67-55 win over visiting North Texas Saturday evening.
Southern Miss improved to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in Conference USA while North Texas dropped to 2-16 and 1-6.
"I was really proud on how our team closed out the half because we have struggled with that," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We wanted to come out a little bit earlier in the second half to get them warmed up and start strong after the half. It seemed like it took us forever to score, but defensively we were holding our ground. Finally we got on a roll and scored some buckets.
"This was a game where we executed probably 80 percent of the segments of the game," McNelis said. "We saw some improvements. Defensively, we were okay. We had some breakdowns guarding their wing players. They had some players to step and play well."
Junior guard Jerontay Clemons recorded her first double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds to go with five assists and two steals. Freshman Megan Brown came off the bench and turned in a near perfect performance with 17 points as she was 4-o-5 from the field including 3-of-3 from behind the arc and 6-of-6 from the line in 23 minutes of play.
"Jerontay Clemons played really well this weekend in both games," said McNelis. "She played her best basketball on Thursday and followed up with a solid performance today. I'm proud of her, but she is not the only one who played well. Megan Brown went almost perfect. We've been waiting for that light to come on. She is our game ball player."
The teams opened the game trading baskets for the first six minutes. After battling to a 9-9 tie, Brittanny Dinkins' two free throws ignited a 10-2 run as the Lady Eagles took a 13-11 lead. North Texas quickly answered by scoring the next six points in cutting the lead to two (19-17). After trading trips to the free throw line by each team, North Texas got back-to-back baskets to tie the game at 26-25 with 5:34 remaining. Over the final 5:20, Southern Miss outscored the Mean Green 14-2 to close out the half. The Lady Eagles led 40-28 behind 52.2 percent shooting from the field and going 14-of-17 from the line.
The Lady Eagles opened the second half scoring the first nine points in gaining their largest lead at 49-28. For a two-minute span neither team was able to put any points on the board. North Texas converted a pair of free throws to start a 5-0 run before Brown connected on a three to put a halt to the run. Following another set of free throws, Brown answered again with a triple. The teams began trading baskets over the next four minutes before North Texas added a basket and two free throws to cut the lead to 13, 59-46.
Southern Miss led 65-48 with four minutes remaining before North Texas finished the game on a 7-2 run as the Lady Eagles posted the 67-55 win.
BreAnna Dawkins led the Mean Green with 17 points while JohVonna Darrington and Eboniey Jeter pulled down 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively.
The Black and Gold outscored North Texas 34-14 on points in the paint and get great support from the behind with 37 points. However, North Texas scored 15 points off turnovers and added 18 second chance points against the home team.
Southern Miss will hit the road for a pair of C-USA games when the Lady Eagles travel to Marshall on Jan. 29 for a 5 p.m. central tip and on to No. 24 Western Kentucky on Jan. 31 for a 2 p.m. slate.
