University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
South Alabama
Lady Eagles Beat South Alabama in Comeback Fashion
12/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MOBILE, Ala. â€" The Southern Miss Women's Basketball team overcame a 12 point deficit to defeat South Alabama 57-48 Sunday afternoon.
"We just showed up and played in the fourth quarter," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "We showed toughness, grit and our physical abilities. The most important out of all of those was toughness though. We played with a mentality that we would not be denied. I'm really proud of how this team responded in the fourth quarter. We just had several people that stepped up and made some really big plays."
The Lady Eagles entered the second half down 33-25 and the Jaguars had pushed it to 40-28 with under six minutes left in the third quarter. Southern Miss then tore off a 12-2 sequence and were within three at the start of the fourth quarter.
Freshman Respect Leaphart came up huge for the Lady Eagles. Leaphart pulled down 10 rebounds, the second double-digit rebound game of her young career. Jayla King was key for the Lady Eagles as well. All of her 10 points came in the second half.
"I just had to be big," Leaphart said. "As a freshman it can be hard to get over adversity, but it's a part of growing up. It's only going to get harder as the season goes on, but I got to learn how to be big all the time."
Brittanny Dinkins, who would have the 43 double-digit scoring game of her career, added in 14 points. Her three-pointer with 47 second left in the third quarter brought Southern Miss within three.
"I got frustrated early because we weren't playing Lady Eagle basketball," Dinkins said. "Coach challenged me at halftime, so when I hit that three it made us surge and it just went up from there. When the fourth quarter started it was time to get back to Lady Eagle Basketball."
The Lady Eagles would outscore the Jaguars 18-6 in the fourth quarter.
Southern Miss returns home to host No. 6 Mississippi State on Saturday Dec.10 at 2 p.m. in a doubleheader. The Southern Miss Men's Basketball team will face Tulane right after the Lady Eagles and Bulldogs play. This is the last Lady Eagle home game until Jan. 12. Tickets 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.
Photo by Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
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