Last Home Game Sees a Win from the Lady Eagles

Thursday, March 5

Reed Green Coliseum

6 p.m.

Southern Miss

15-13, 7-10

Florida Atlantic

12-16, 6-11

Fla. Atlantic

Southern Miss

Last Home Game Sees a Win from the Lady Eagles

3/5/2020 9:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Southern Miss finishes at home with a 59-55 win over FAU.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Lady Eagles of Southern Miss women's basketball found a win for their last game in Reed Green for the season with a 59-55 decision against Florida Atlantic on Thursday night.

Southern Miss (15-13, 7-10) took down FAU (12-16, 6-11) with all four seniors suited up and each saw playing time. A very new lineup was introduced for the Lady Eagles, which consisted of Liz Gibbs in her second career start, Respect Leaphart, Kelsey Jones, Allie Kennedy, and Daishai Almond. Each of the 11 Lady Eagles saw time on the floor, and each of them scored at least two points.

The Lady Eagles kicked off their last home contest by winning the tip and seeing a good layup from Almond to start off the scoring. Two Lady Eagles took a total of three charges in that first frame, with Imani Carter taking two and Alarie Mayze absorbing one. During that frame, the Lady Eagles only saw the lead one time, and the rest was in the hands of FAU. The Owls had three 3-pointers fall within the quarter, but Southern Miss saw a good trey from Destiny Smith with under four minutes on the clock. She cut the Owls' lead from six down to three, and then a jumper from Carter cut it to one. The Lady Eagles ended the quarter down by five, but had put up seven points from the bench where FAU had seen none, and six points in the paint to the Owls' two.

In the second quarter, it was a back-and-forth game of turnovers, producing six points for the Lady Eagles. Florida Atlantic started the quarter off with a good 3-ball, which was followed by a jumper by Jones, but then answered with an FAU 3-point play. The Owls led by as much as seven thanks to the hot hands of Juliette Gauthier from three-point range. Kelsey Jones made a good jumper in the paint with mere seconds on the clock which brought Southern Miss within one going into the half, 32-31. Fourteen of Southern Miss' points in that frame came from the paint.

The Lady Eagles came out hot in the third quarter, starting it off with a Daishai Almond jumper. It was followed by a 3-point play from Leaphart, putting the Lady Eagles up 36-32. It turned into an 11-0 run for Southern Miss as Liz Gibbs was fouled and made a free throw, Leaphart had another good jumper, then Gibbs had a jumper and made two free throws. It was cut short by a good free throw from FAU's Primm, but the Lady Eagles came back with two more free throws from Leaphart. Senior Shonte Hailes came into the game in the second half after being out seven games due to injury, and was welcomed to the floor with a roar from the crowd in Reed Green. She would hit a good three-pointer announce her return with a minute and change to go in the third. Going into the final quarter, the Lady Eagles were up 48-41.

In the fourth, the Lady Eagles went neck-and-neck with the Owls. Starting out on top, they continued the streak as Leaphart started the scoring. FAU started to chip at the Southern Miss lead with a 3-ball from Nikola Ozola, then a trey from Primm to make it a three-point lead, then two-straight Astou Gaye layups put them ahead by one. A media timeout allowed the Lady Eagles to come back together, and then there were no points on the board for the next two minutes. Ozola tied it up at 53-all with 1:30 left on the clock, and a jumper by Jones put the Lady Eagles back on top by two. FAU tied it back up, but Leaphart was the one to break it up this time. It was all the Lady Eagles from that point forward, as Jones solidified the lead with a steal and she was fouled just after, and then sank both her free throws. Gaye of Florida Atlantic would try for a Hail Mary 3-pointer, but it didn't drop.

Shonte Hailes was presented with her 1,000 point ball postgame and Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis addressed the crowd, thanking them for their attendance and support all year. Hailes is now up to 1,249 in her career, and her senior counterpart Respect Leaphart is just 11 points away from her 1,000-point milestone with 989 points after her 20-point game her last night in Reed Green.

Leaphart led the Lady Eagles with her 20-point showing, while Kelsey Jones led the team on the boards with nine. Gibbs, Almond, and Mayze all had four assists on the night, while Jones had two steals and Amber Landing recorded two blocks.

Up Next
The Lady Eagles will now travel to Birmingham, Ala. to play the last matchup of the regular season against UAB, set for Saturday, Mar. 7 with a 2 p.m. start time.