Southern Miss
Charlotte
Lady Eagle Hoops Fall to Charlotte 83-72
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss women's basketball had its six-game winning streak snapped and Charlotte outscored the Lady Eagles 49-30 in the second half on 58.1 percent shooting in posting an 83-72 win Saturday afternoon.
Southern Miss falls to 18-8 overall and 11-4 in Conference USA play while Charlotte improved to 11-15 and 7-7.
"We struggle on getting the ball inside today and to finish," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "You have to hats off the Charlotte because they played on heck of a game. They shot the cover off the ball. We tried switching defenses and neither of them worked, particularly, in the final eight minutes of the game.
"We now have to lace up our boot straps and get better," McNelis said. "We have to regroup and get ready and get back on track starting at UTSA and UTEP. Today we played in a panic mode and not poised like we have in every other close game. Again, our defense normally generates our offense but our defense was not very good today. But again, you have to give Charlotte a lot of credit for that."
The Lady Eagles placed four players in double figure scoring led by Brooke Rhodes with 17 followed by Tamara Jones with 13, Jerontay Clemons added 11 and Brittanny Dinkins chipped in 10.
Charlotte scored the first points of the game with a three-pointer before Rhodes answered with a three. The teams traded baskets before Charlotte scored five straight points to take a 10-7 lead. The Lady Eagles then used a 17-2 run over a span of 4:12 in taking a 24-12 lead midway through the first half. Southern Miss led by as many as 13 as late as 2:07 remaining in the half, but Charlotte ended the half scoring the last five points. Southern Miss led 42-34 at the half.
Charlotte opened the second half outscoring the Lady Eagles 16-8 over the first five minutes to start the half. The teams began trading baskets for the next 5:20 before the 49ers hit a pair of free throws to start a 9-3 run for a 71-66 lead with 6:02 remaining. Clemons cut the lead to 71-68 at the 4:40 mark, but Charlotte scored 10 unanswered points over to push the lead to double digits with 1:36 remaining. Southern Miss managed only two baskets in the final minute as Charlotte held on for the 83-72 victory.
The 49ers scored 20 or more points led by Lefty Webster with 24 followed by Hillary Sigmon with 23 and Kira Gordon had 21. Ayanna Holmes recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Charlotte finished the game shooting 50.8 percent and 84.6 percent from the line.
The 49ers held a 38-29 rebounding edge and outscored the Lady Eagles 15-11 on second chance points.
Southern Miss hits the road for the final time this season with a Texas swing as the Lady Eagles travel to UTSA on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m., before concluding at UTEP on Mar. 1 at 3 p.m. in a nationally televised game on Fox Sports Network.
