University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
North Texas
Southern Miss Stampedes Past North Texas 70-48
2/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2017
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss Women's basketball team (20-9, 12-5) overcame a slow first half to conquer North Texas (11-16, 8-8) 70-48 Thursday evening and collect the twentieth win of the season.
Southern led 34-19 at half despite turning the ball over 13 times in the first two quarters, but the team refocused at half and concentrated on the task at hand.
"It was ugly," said Coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "I'll attribute that to North Texas' defense. They did a great job of defending us. The second half we became a different team. We only had four turnovers in the second half, we executed, our flow was a little better and I'm just proud of them. In the second half we made a couple of offensive tweaks to play to our advantage. Defensively we put in a gimmick defense in two of their offensive sets, because we could not guard them on it at their place and they only got by us twice on it. I thought we did a much better job in the second half."
This is the fifteenth seasons in program history with 20 or more wins.
"We're grinders," McNelis said. "That's who we are and that's who I am. We tell players that come to play for us, `You're going to work hard, you're going to get better and you'll be prepared for life. To win twenty games, we are so proud of this group. I can't say enough of how this team has put things aside, been able to press on and improved."
Brittanny Dinkins led all scorers and rebounders and Keri Jewett-Giles swiped a season-high five steals. Dinkins poured in 23 total points, the twelfth 20 point game of her career, and collected nine rebound. Jewett-Giles also put in 12 points and dished four assists.
"With the steals, I'm just trying to generate some transition offense for my team," Jewett-Giles said. "When the put the ball in front of me, I go get it."
For the fourth time this season, every Southern Miss registered at least one point. Dinkins said that it showed the team's effort and the overall feeling of the team.
"We're very confident," Dinkins said. "It makes me smile to see that everyone scored. It's awesome for us to know that we can go into the conference tournament knowing that Coach feels good about subbing somebody and they're going to give something rather than being iffy.
The Lady Eagles look to avenge another early C-USA loss with LA Tech coming to town on March 3 for Senior Night. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. CT. The Lady Techsters defeated Southern Miss 72-61 back on Dec. 30.
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.
