Lady Eagles Ready to Start Season on Education Day

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Lady Eagles are ready to officially kick off the 2018-19 season by welcoming the William Carey Crusaders to Reed Green Coliseum, facing off at 11am.

The Southern Miss Lady Eagles have been preparing for this first game and are excited to play the Crusaders in front of students from schools in the Pine Belt area for Education Day. The annual Education Day game always brings a hearty amount of kids from schools in the area that will be cheering loud for both squads. On Oct. 29, Toby Barker, Mayor of Hattiesburg, held a press conference to talk about this annual tipoff event between the two universities.

Mayor Toby Barker
"We're excited today. I think people are aware that Nov. 6 is coming up. Most people think it is just election day, but I'm here to tell you there's another event on Nov. 6, and that is the annual kickoff game for the 2018 season for the William Carey Crusaders and the Southern Miss Lady Golden Eagles. Each of these teams have high hopes for the season and we're hoping both of them will do well in their respective conferences."

Coach Joye Lee-McNelis
"We're so glad that William Carey can be a part of such an exciting event. It brings a lot of excitement. Our adrenaline is pumping and there's excitement in the air. To have the opportunity to be able to play our crosstown foe brings a bunch of excitement to our season. Our staff refers to it as "ballin' in the 'Burg". It is time for basketball to begin here in Hattiesburg and we're so fortunate for Coach Tracy English and William Carey to be a part of it – it's an opportunity for us to give our children across our community the chance to come to Reed Green Coliseum and watch our two teams play. Our Lady Eagles have spoken to twelve schools in our community about coming and being a part of this. They get to see two very good basketball teams compete. We have so many young people that never get the opportunity to be on a college campus and we're giving them that and giving them the chance to walk around a college campus. It's going to give them the opportunity to dream big and giving them the feel and touch and putting that into perspective."

Follow Along
The game against William Carey will be streamed on CUSA.tv as well as broadcast on 92.7 The Score with Jason Baker and Kay James on the IMG Sports Network. Live updates can be found on Twitter at @SouthernMissWBB and online through SouthernMiss.com. A full recap as well as a photo gallery and final stats can be accessed later in the evening on SouthernMiss.com.

Crunching the Numbers
This is Joye Lee-McNelis' fifteenth season as the head coach at her alma mater, and now has two former players on staff in Lauren Pittman and Patosha Jeffery.

There are three true freshmen on the squad in Daishai Almond, Shania Edgecombe and Destiny Smith. Camille Anderson, Imani Carter and Kelsey Jones return as redshirt newcomers for the Lady Eagles. Anderson sat out the previous season due to NCAA transfer requirements.

Megan Brown and Shonte Hailes are the standout returning starters for Southern Miss, with Brown projected to join the 1,000 point club by the end of the season, and Hailes on track to continue making strides toward all-time records. Brown is the only senior on the team this season.

Lady Eagles Ready to Start Season on Education Day

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Players Mentioned

Daishai Almond

Camille Anderson

Megan Brown

Imani Carter

Shania Edgecombe

Shonte Hailes

Kelsey Jones

Destiny Smith