Southern Miss
-127,44 CUSA
Rice
-69,16 CUSA
Lady Eagles Run Past Rice
1/29/2022 6:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HOUSTON – Behind the hot play of junior guard Domonique Davis, and the best team shooting performance of the season, Southern Miss women's basketball raced past Rice, 78-55, on Saturday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.
"It was a great team effort," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We didn't give them a lot of opportunities to breathe, and then to go 16-of-18 from the free-throw line was huge for us. We really stepped up and answered from the loss on Thursday night."
Davis went for a career-high 30 points in the win on a 9-of-16 effort from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and a perfect 9-of-9 at the free-throw line. The DeRidder, La. native swiped three steals, dished out three assists and grabbed a pair of rebounds.
After being challenged by McNelis after Thursday's loss at North Texas, sophomore Melyia Grayson answered the call with 15 points on a 7-of-12 effort from the floor to join Davis in double figures. Senior Daishai Almond went a perfect 4-of-4 to finish with nine points and led the squad with six assists on the night.
As a team, the Lady Eagles (12-7, 4-4 C-USA) shot 54.7 percent from the floor for their best shooting clip of the season. It marks the second time that the Black and Gold have shot over 50 percent on the season, and raises their Conference USA leading field-goal percentage to 44.3 percent.
Grayson got the scoring started for the Lady Eagles on a made layup on the first possession of the game, but the Owls (6-9, 1-5 C-USA) rattled off nine-straight points to jump ahead by seven. Davis caught fire to close the quarter with a personal 10-0 run, including back-to-back treys, and a steal and layup as the clock expired to push Southern Miss ahead by three after the opening quarter of play.
Southern Miss put the clamps down defensively in the second, holding the Owls to just four made field-goals, while forcing Rice into seven turnovers that the Lady Eagles converted into eight points. Davis again went on a run of her own, scoring seven-straight points, as the defense didn't allow a point over four minutes and 17 seconds of action to push the lead out to 12 points going into half.
The Lady Eagles continued to push out of the break, scoring the first five points of the third quarter on a Grayson layup and Almond's third triple of the season. Senior Destiny Smith came to life in the third, dishing out two of her career-high four assists in the frame to go along with three of her season-high eight rebounds to guide Southern Miss to an 18-point advantage going into the final 10 minutes of action.
USM did almost all of its damage at the charity stripe in the final stanza, going a perfect 9-of-9 at the line to close out the contest. After Davis knocked down a pair to reach the 30-point mark for the first time in her career, McNelis was able to empty the bench and get some of her younger players some action. Freshman Morgan Dillard scored her first points in Conference USA action to close the scoring, as Southern Miss picked up a victory at Tudor Fieldhouse for the first time since 2016.
The Lady Eagles return home for a unique four-game stretch at Reed Green Coliseum during conference play. Southern Miss opens a string of four games in seven days at The Greenhouse with FIU on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
