Lady Eagles Head to Tulane for Second Annual Battle for I-59

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss women's basketball team heads to New Orleans for the second year of the Battle for I-59 against Tulane on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 1pm.

The matchup against Tulane is the longest running in Lady Eagle basketball history, with 66 games played thus far. Last season, the matchup was dubbed "The Battle for I-59". The Lady Eagles played the Green Wave in Green Coliseum and came out on top with a 66-58 win. The second meeting for the Battle will take place on Tulane's home court in Devlin Fieldhouse on Sat., Dec. 1 at 1pm.

Quotables - Coach Joye Lee-McNelis
Tulane is a very good basketball team. They're very well-coached, Coach Lisa Stockton is celebrating her 25th season at Tulane, and it's always been a great battle even going back to when they were in Conference USA. We're looking forward to going down and playing them; they will be the best team we've played thus far. They are a very disciplined team, a very skilled team. It's a very different team than the ones we've seen this year. We were very fortunate to get a win against them here last year, but we had difference makers in Jayla King and Molly Brown. Veteran players are going to have to step up and understand that going to Tulane is a very tough, hostile environment that's very loud. They have a mixture of veteran and young players. They have a very good win over LSU and that really puts a true mark in their program. It will be a real challenge for us but I think the Lady Eagles will go in looking at it as a challenge and one that we'll be up for and be excited about.

The Series
This will be the 67th meeting between the Green Wave and the Lady Eagles, the second installment of the Battle for I-59. The Lady Eagles lead the series overall 36-30, and are 23-8 at home in Reed Green and are 12-22 at Devlin Fieldhouse. The two have only met in a neutral site once, and the Lady Eagles came out on top. The first meeting of this historic matchup was in 1977 at Devlin Fieldhouse, where Southern Miss fell in a close game 68-66 to the Green Wave. Coach McNelis is 8-7 against Tulane, her first time seeing the Green Wave came in February of 2005 where the Lady Eagles pulled out a win, 80-73 on Southern Miss' home court.

Tulane is currently 5-1 (0-0 AAC) on the season, with wins against Texas Southern, LSU, Washington, Cleveland State and Florida Atlantic. They saw their one loss against Cal. Most of their wins have been fairly close ones, but against Florida Atlantic, they won 88-45 at home. Head Coach Lisa Stockton is in her 25th season with the Green Wave and is their most winningest coach. The Green Wave is led by sophomores Krystal Freeman and Kaila Anderson. Freeman has 87 points on the season and 34 rebounds, while Anderson leads in assists with 31.

Southern Miss, 5-2 (0-0 C-USA), is coming off a win against Northwestern State, 69-54. This will be the Lady Eagles' second road game of the season, and is one of two for the month of December. Redshirt senior Megan Brown leads the team in points with 87, and against the Lady Demons scored her 800th career point. She is also climbing the ranks for the all-time games played list at Southern Miss. She started the season with 100 games played and she now sits at 107, tied for No. 27 with Alyson Hardy, Marlena Lee and Rose Smith. Redshirt freshman Kelsey Jones is the leading rebounder for the Lady Eagles with 40 for the season thus far. With 34 assists, junior Shonte Hailes leads the team, and has led the team in assists for all seven games this season but shared that title for the Samford game with Camille Anderson. She has had five or more assists in four games this season, 26 games in her career. Alarie Mayze leads the team with 22 steals, with 3.1 per game. As of Monday, Nov. 26, she is No. 43 for steals in NCAA women's basketball, when she had 19 steals with 3.2 steals per game.

Next Time Out
The Lady Eagles will return to Reed Green for a three game homestand against Alcorn State, Mississippi State and Blue Mountain College. They will take on Alcorn State on Tues., Dec. 11 at 6pm.

Lady Eagles Head to Tulane for Second Annual Battle for I-59

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Players Mentioned

Camille Anderson

Megan Brown

Molly Brown

Shonte Hailes

Kelsey Jones

Jayla King

Alarie Mayze