Southern Miss
Rice
Southern Miss Rejected 76-68 by Rice
1/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2017
Houston, Texas. -- The Southern Miss Women's Basketball team (11-8, 3-4) registered a 76-68 loss to Rice (11-8, 2-5) on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Eagles got in front early, but Rice's three point barrage, tying the most made by an opponent this season, put the Lady Eagles in a bind that proved to be too much.
"There were so many times that we could've taken the lead," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "But I don't want our fans to think we played awful. We did not. We did not play bad at all. The difference was guarding the three ball and keeping people off the offensive glass. Rice took advantage of when we made a mistake defensively. I told [the team] after the game we will be fine if we refocus on the small details. We've got to understand that little things make a big difference."
Brittanny Dinkins led all scorers with 17 points, four steals and four assists. Dinkins' 1,194 career points bring her to sixteenth all-time on the Lady Eagle scoring list. Southern Miss also had four players in double-digits for the first time since UTSA earlier this season.
The Lady Eagles will be back at home Thursday to take on Middle Tennessee at 6 p.m. CT and UAB on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT. The Southern Miss Women's Basketball team will recognize Coach Kay James, one of the greatest Lady Eagles of all-time, who was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame last summer, during halftime on Jan. 28 against UAB.
The first 500 fans at the game with be given a mini poster of the legendary coach.
A pregame social open to all Wings members, M-Club members, Women's Basketball season ticket holders, Eagle Club members and former Lady Eagles will be held before the game.
Any former Women's Basketball Letter Winners, which includes all former players, coaches, trainers, and managers, are invited back to be a part of this celebration and can receive up to four complimentary tickets to the game. An RSVP to Eric Beatty with Southern Miss Sports Marketing by Jan. 28 is required. He can be contacted at Eric.Beatty@usm.edu or reached at 601-266-6629.
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.
