Southern Miss
Alabama State
Southern Miss Women's Basketball Downs Alabama State 70-43
11/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss Lady Eagles downed the Hornets of Alabama State 70-43 Thursday night.
"We were very fortunate to get a W today," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "We played a very good Alabama State team. I think there was a tale of two halves. We did not play in rhythm [in the second half] and we did not play in an attack mentality at all. We're not going to win very many ball games that way. I thought we played with much more fire in the belly [in the second half]. We played with much more intensity and we went out with a different mindset."
The Lady Eagles came out in the second half with their hair on fire. They shot 58.8 percent from the field in the third quarter, forced seven turnovers, scored 11 points off turnovers, grabbed 11 rebounds, had 12 points in the paint and scored 26 points.
Southern Miss stretched a six point halftime lead into a 22 point lead going into the fourth quarter and would end up winning by 27. Jayla King led the team in rebounds with a career-best 12 boards.
"Coach McNelis kept telling me all week that I need to rebound because that's my role," King said. "So I was just thinking the whole time that I got to get on the boards and if I don't get on the boards then Coach is going to take me out and get on my tail, and I didn't want to get out," King said with a smirk on her face. "I wanted to stay in, so I kept crashing every time."
Brittanny Dinkins had 19 points, 16 coming in the second half, to go along with a career-high tying seven steals.
"I was just mindful of shot selection," Dinkins said. "If there's anything that I need to be aware of in games, it's being aware of shot selection. In the first half we shot threes left and right. In the second half we had shots that were in rhythm, got steals, got lay ups, got touches and stuff like that. That gave me rhythm to focus in."
Southern Miss hits the pavement for their first away action of the season on Sunday Nov. 20 in New Orleans against Tulane. Tickets for the next home matchup against Alcorn State can be purchased online at SouthernMissTickets.com, or by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 1-800-844-TICK (8425) as well as visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Center on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m..
