Southern Miss
Florida Atlantic
Southern Miss Posts 82-67 Comeback Win Over FAU
2/18/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Boca Raton, Fla. -- The Southern Miss Women's basketball team (18-9, 10-5), fueled by a 57 point second half, came back to beat FAU 82-67 (4-21, 0-14) Saturday night. Senior Brittanny Dinkins, playing in her home state, scored 22 points in the second half after going three-for-12 in the first half.
"I was so proud of Dinkins" said interim coach Kiley Hill. "We were in a timeout late and she wanted it so bad. She's put the reps in, the time in and she's just drawing from [that]. She had a great crowd here to support her. In the second half, we were finally able to attack the rim and do what we had planned to do from the very beginning. I was proud of how our team responded in the second half. I told them it was about getting a stop, scoring and getting another stop. We were able to do that in the second half."
The Miami product tallied 28 total points, the third highest total of the season, and scored over 26 for the second time in three games. Dinkins became the Lady Eagle to play the most games after appearing in the one hundred and twenty-seventh game of her career.
"It's not that my shot selected was bad at the start of the game, but [nothing was falling]. Coach Hill kept telling me to find my rhythm. If Coach McNelis was here, I know she would tell me that my shot wasn't falling and I had to get some easy ones. Once I [did that] and got to the rim, I felt it and others came behind it."
The second half turn around, spearheaded by Dinkins, was also made possible by double-digit scoring outputs from fellow Florida natives Jayla King (10 second half points) and Keri Jewett-Giles (11 second half points).
Dinkins got emotional when asked about her last performance as a Southern Miss Lady Eagle in the Sunshine State.
"I'm humbled, with my family here, it means a lot to me," Dinkins said. "Just the last go around, I don't want to leave anything. I just want to give up myself. Today I was able to do that and leave everything that I had on that floor. People that I don't even know come up to me and tell me that I played great. I just play to inspire people and keep it going. This is very touching. I'm proud that my hard work is paying off. I'm never going to be satisfied. My team needs me and I'm going after something that [my teammates] haven't done, and that's win a championship. When I get back to Hattiesburg I am going to put in twice as much work as I need to in order to make us go to the championship round."
The Lady Eagles will be back in Reed Green Coliseum Feb. 18 against Rice at 6:00 p.m. CT and will have three straight home games to end the season.
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. Starting 30 minutes before tip, Lady Eagle fans can also hear Josh West on the radio broadcast for the game on WFOR 1400 AM.
