University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
UTSA
Lady Eagle Basketball Falls at UTSA 47-41
1/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Southern Miss women's basketball team suffered through long bouts of cold shooting in the second half in falling to UTSA 47-41 Saturday in Conference USA action.
Southern Miss falls to 10-9 overall and 3-5 in league play while UTSA improved to 7-12 and 3-6.
"You have to say congratulations to UTSA, but we just didn't score the ball," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We had every opportunity, but we didn't score the ball. You are not going to win ball games shooting 20 percent and that's what we did in the second half. We are not playing as a team unit right now and that's got to change. We just didn't get it done today."
Jayla King was the only player to reach double figures with 10 points while Caitlin Jenkins pulled down 12 rebounds. The Lady Eagles finished the game shooting just 31.5 percent from the field. Southern Miss held a 22-10 advantage on points in the paint, but UTSA countered with 21 to 7 in points off turnovers.
UTSA got on the scoreboard with the first four points. Southern Miss got its first from King underneath in sparking a 6-2 run to tie the game at 6-6 at the 7:04 mark in the quarter. From there, it was all UTSA as the Roadrunner ended the quarter strong, scoring the final nine points for a 15-6 lead. The Lady Eagles went cold over the final seven minutes.
UTSA scored the first points to start the second quarter in taking a double digit lead. King added a basket to get the margin below 10, but UTSA added another bucket for the 19-8 lead. Norris then connected on a three from the corner in sparking a 16-0 run. During that stretch, the Lady Eagles connected on four field goals from behind the arc.
Southern Miss scored the first two points right out of the gate to start the third quarter. However, neither team managed to score for the next four minutes when the Lady Eagles took their largest lead 31-22 at the 5:36 mark in the quarter. From there, UTSA began chipping away at the Lady Eagle lead, using a 13-3 run. The Roadrunners took the lead on a pair of free throws with 15 seconds remaining in the quarter.
UTSA took the momentum into the final quarter and in the first four minutes had built a 10-point advantage over the Lady Eagles. Southern Miss went 7:23 without scoring a point. That drought ended with a three-point Tajanay Veiga basket at the 1:15 mark in the game.
Mathilde Hergott led UTSA with 13 points and Crystal Chidomere chipped in 10. Niaga Mitchell-Cole was the top rebounder with six.
Southern Miss returns home to host North Texas on Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.
