Southern Miss
Charlotte
Southern Miss Drops 78-61 Contest to Charlotte
1/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2017
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss Lady Eagles (11-6, 3-2) fell to the Charlotte 49ers (13-4, 5-1) 78-61 on Saturday night.
Brittanny Dinkins 25 points, her third straight game with 20 or more points, wasn't enough to keep up with Charlotte shooting 58.8 percent from the floor, including Nyilah Jamison-Myers shooting 11-of-12. The Lady Eagles got off to a 5-0 run, but then went dry and didn't make a field goal for over six minutes. USM finished the quarter with nine total points.
The Lady Eagles outscored Charlotte 21-12 in the second quarter and only trailed by five going into halftime. The comeback was on in the second half. Southern Miss and the 49ers traded baskets and eventually Dinkins' tied it up at 47 with 3:22 remaining in the third quarter. Lefty Webster then sank a three on Charlotte's next possession to regain the lead that would not be overtaken.
"Charlotte came in after their loss to Louisiana Tech and they were on a mission," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "You have to say hats off to them. We played very hard. But we did not play smart. I think the [first quarter], I hate to say it, set the stage for the rest of the game. If we don't have that quarter you could be up, it could be a two point game or a two point game. I don't think we played within our own abilities within the first quarter. How hard we fought to pull it within four and six? You cannot fault this team's heart."
Jayla King grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Lady Eagles and Keri Jewett-Giles scored 17 points off the bench. Dinkins' four three-pointers brings her to 135 for her career. She only needs three more to pass Patricia Nash to move to fourth all-time.
The Lady Eagles travel back to Texas to step with North Texas on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. CT and Rice on the 21 at 2 p.m. CT. Lady Eagle fans can watch the contest with the Mean Green on the BeIN network and hear Josh West on the radio broadcast for both games on WFOR AM 1400.
