Thursday, January 9
Monroe, La. / Fant-Ewing Coliseum
3 p.m.
Southern Miss
5-10,1-3Sun Belt
75
at
84
ULM
6-9,2-2Sun Belt
1
2
3
4
F
Southern Miss.
23
11
18
23
75
ULM
13
17
22
32
84
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
ULM Clips Southern Miss in Second Half Comeback
1/9/2025 5:27:00 PM | Women's Basketball
MONROE, La. – Two Warhawks crossed the 20-point plateau as ULM (6-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) defeated Southern Miss (5-10, 1-3 Sun Belt) 84-75 in comeback fashion Thursday afternoon at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. Melyia Grayson led all scorers and tied her career-high of 32 points on a 15-of-25 shooting performance.
Southern Miss struck first and opened a 4-0 lead in less than a minute of play thanks to back-to-back buckets from Melyia Grayson. The Warhawks responded with their first points of the game from Meloney Thames, but Grayson continued her attack. The native Hattiesburger scored eight of the Lady Eagles' first 12 points and held 12 points at the end of the first quarter.
Nyla Jean (Tampa, Fla.) and Micah Cooper (Carrollton, Texas) also contributed baskets of their own with Jean scoring seven and Cooper four. Cooper's buckets were all the more impressive as she played nearly all 10 minutes of the first quarter in her first career start at the collegiate level.
Thanks to Grayson's scoring output, Southern Miss led 23-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Eagles' 23 points were the seventh time this season the team scored at least 20 points in the opening frame. Southern Miss is now 4-3 when scoring 20-plus first quarter points.
Jean crossed into double-figure scoring with a three-point basket to begin the second quarter. ULM, though, drilled three-point baskets on back-to-back possessions to force a Southern Miss timeout at 7:58. The back-to-back threes ignited an 11-0 run by the Warhawks that cut the Southern Miss lead to just two points.
Morgan Sieper (Tampa, Fla.) sank a buzzer-beater jump shot to break the scoreless streak and keep the lead in favor of the Lady Eagles. Grayson scored another four points in the quarter and Southern Miss went to the locker room up 34-30 over ULM.
ULM broke open the third quarter, outscoring Southern Miss 9-2 in the first three minutes of the frame. ULM tied the game at 36-36 at 8:19 in the frame before Monroe's Jakayla Johnson gave the Warhawks their first lead of the day on a long three-point basket with 7:15 left on the clock.
ULM did not trail the rest of the quarter though Southern Miss did tie it on three occasions. Grayson collected her 10th rebound of the day to record her third double-double of the season and 24th in her career. The Lady Eagles' saved a 6-0 run for the final minute of the third quarter, tying the game once again at 52-52 heading into the final frame.
Jean found nylon from deep once again a minute into the fourth quarter to give Southern Miss a 57-56 lead. Grayson made both her attempts at the free throw line later in the frame to make it a 59-56 margin in favor of Southern Miss. Grayson responded to a Thames jump shot with a layup of her own to lead 61-58 with 7:21 to play. The bucket also gave Grayson 26 points on the day, breaking her previous season-high 24-point performance at Bowling Green.
Cianté Downs gave ULM a 62-61 lead with six minutes to play before Grayson once again took the lead back at the 5:35 mark in the fourth. Brikayla Gray gave ULM its final lead of the day with 5:13 to play. The Warhawks did not relinquish their lead down the stretch.
The Warhawks took advantage of the 9-2 foul margin and attempted 16 free throws in the final frame, making all 16 shots. Thames finished 10-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter alone with 16 of ULM's 32 fourth quarter points coming at the charity stripe.
Southern Miss' desperation shots did not fall and ULM sealed the game to win 84-75 in front of 838 spectators.
Grayson's 32 points tie her previous career scoring high set against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 5, 2022, while setting new career bests in field goals made (15) and field goal attempts (25). Her 15 made field goals also place her in a seven-way tie for the seventh-most field goals made in a single game. She is tied with Jamierra Faulkner (Jan. 25, 2014), Tamara Jones (Feb. 15, 2014), Tanecka Carey (Nov. 28, 2012), Emer Foley (Nov. 17, 2006), Diana Lyons (Feb. 2, 1978) and Nancy Faulk (Nov. 17, 1978).
Grayson also passed former Lady Eagle great Tanya Bullock to move into 13th all-time on the Lady Eagles' all-time scoring charts. She now sits with 1,419 career points and is just eight points behind Wilhelmina Smith, who owns the 12th-most in program history.
Up Next
The Lady Eagles travel to Lafayette, La., tonight in preparation of their Saturday, Jan. 11, meeting against Louisiana. Tipoff between the Lady Eagles and Ragin' Cajuns is set for 2 p.m. at the Cajundome.
Dan McDonald and Eric Mouton will be on the ESPN+ broadcast with the Voice of the Lady Eagles, Jason Baker, on the call on the Southern Miss Sports Network.
Celebrating 50 Seasons of Southern Miss Women's Basketball
The 2024-25 season of Southern Miss Lady Eagle Basketball marks a major milestone for the program and for The University of Southern Mississippi as the women's basketball program celebrates its 50th season of competition. Following the adoption of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Southern Miss added women's basketball and women's tennis as official athletic programs beginning in the 1975-76 season. Since then, the Lady Eagles have laid out five decades of excellence on and off the court. To celebrate this golden jubilee, Southern Miss women's basketball will host its 50th Season Celebration and Reunion on Saturday, January 18, against South Alabama at Reed Green Coliseum.
Follow The Lady Eagles
Follow the Lady Eagles on Twitter (@SouthernMissWBB), Instagram (@southernmisswbb) or on Facebook (/SouthernMissWBB) to stay up-to-date on Southern Miss women's basketball. Fans can visit Southern Miss.com or download the Southern Miss GameDay app to see full schedules, releases and more.
Southern Miss struck first and opened a 4-0 lead in less than a minute of play thanks to back-to-back buckets from Melyia Grayson. The Warhawks responded with their first points of the game from Meloney Thames, but Grayson continued her attack. The native Hattiesburger scored eight of the Lady Eagles' first 12 points and held 12 points at the end of the first quarter.
Nyla Jean (Tampa, Fla.) and Micah Cooper (Carrollton, Texas) also contributed baskets of their own with Jean scoring seven and Cooper four. Cooper's buckets were all the more impressive as she played nearly all 10 minutes of the first quarter in her first career start at the collegiate level.
Thanks to Grayson's scoring output, Southern Miss led 23-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Eagles' 23 points were the seventh time this season the team scored at least 20 points in the opening frame. Southern Miss is now 4-3 when scoring 20-plus first quarter points.
Jean crossed into double-figure scoring with a three-point basket to begin the second quarter. ULM, though, drilled three-point baskets on back-to-back possessions to force a Southern Miss timeout at 7:58. The back-to-back threes ignited an 11-0 run by the Warhawks that cut the Southern Miss lead to just two points.
Morgan Sieper (Tampa, Fla.) sank a buzzer-beater jump shot to break the scoreless streak and keep the lead in favor of the Lady Eagles. Grayson scored another four points in the quarter and Southern Miss went to the locker room up 34-30 over ULM.
ULM broke open the third quarter, outscoring Southern Miss 9-2 in the first three minutes of the frame. ULM tied the game at 36-36 at 8:19 in the frame before Monroe's Jakayla Johnson gave the Warhawks their first lead of the day on a long three-point basket with 7:15 left on the clock.
ULM did not trail the rest of the quarter though Southern Miss did tie it on three occasions. Grayson collected her 10th rebound of the day to record her third double-double of the season and 24th in her career. The Lady Eagles' saved a 6-0 run for the final minute of the third quarter, tying the game once again at 52-52 heading into the final frame.
Jean found nylon from deep once again a minute into the fourth quarter to give Southern Miss a 57-56 lead. Grayson made both her attempts at the free throw line later in the frame to make it a 59-56 margin in favor of Southern Miss. Grayson responded to a Thames jump shot with a layup of her own to lead 61-58 with 7:21 to play. The bucket also gave Grayson 26 points on the day, breaking her previous season-high 24-point performance at Bowling Green.
Cianté Downs gave ULM a 62-61 lead with six minutes to play before Grayson once again took the lead back at the 5:35 mark in the fourth. Brikayla Gray gave ULM its final lead of the day with 5:13 to play. The Warhawks did not relinquish their lead down the stretch.
The Warhawks took advantage of the 9-2 foul margin and attempted 16 free throws in the final frame, making all 16 shots. Thames finished 10-of-10 from the line in the fourth quarter alone with 16 of ULM's 32 fourth quarter points coming at the charity stripe.
Southern Miss' desperation shots did not fall and ULM sealed the game to win 84-75 in front of 838 spectators.
Grayson's 32 points tie her previous career scoring high set against Florida Atlantic on Feb. 5, 2022, while setting new career bests in field goals made (15) and field goal attempts (25). Her 15 made field goals also place her in a seven-way tie for the seventh-most field goals made in a single game. She is tied with Jamierra Faulkner (Jan. 25, 2014), Tamara Jones (Feb. 15, 2014), Tanecka Carey (Nov. 28, 2012), Emer Foley (Nov. 17, 2006), Diana Lyons (Feb. 2, 1978) and Nancy Faulk (Nov. 17, 1978).
Grayson also passed former Lady Eagle great Tanya Bullock to move into 13th all-time on the Lady Eagles' all-time scoring charts. She now sits with 1,419 career points and is just eight points behind Wilhelmina Smith, who owns the 12th-most in program history.
Up Next
The Lady Eagles travel to Lafayette, La., tonight in preparation of their Saturday, Jan. 11, meeting against Louisiana. Tipoff between the Lady Eagles and Ragin' Cajuns is set for 2 p.m. at the Cajundome.
Dan McDonald and Eric Mouton will be on the ESPN+ broadcast with the Voice of the Lady Eagles, Jason Baker, on the call on the Southern Miss Sports Network.
Celebrating 50 Seasons of Southern Miss Women's Basketball
The 2024-25 season of Southern Miss Lady Eagle Basketball marks a major milestone for the program and for The University of Southern Mississippi as the women's basketball program celebrates its 50th season of competition. Following the adoption of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Southern Miss added women's basketball and women's tennis as official athletic programs beginning in the 1975-76 season. Since then, the Lady Eagles have laid out five decades of excellence on and off the court. To celebrate this golden jubilee, Southern Miss women's basketball will host its 50th Season Celebration and Reunion on Saturday, January 18, against South Alabama at Reed Green Coliseum.
Follow The Lady Eagles
Follow the Lady Eagles on Twitter (@SouthernMissWBB), Instagram (@southernmisswbb) or on Facebook (/SouthernMissWBB) to stay up-to-date on Southern Miss women's basketball. Fans can visit Southern Miss.com or download the Southern Miss GameDay app to see full schedules, releases and more.
– #McNelisStrong | #SMTTT –
Team Stats
USM
ULM
FG%
.457
.466
3FG%
.294
.375
FT%
.857
.828
RB
36
34
TO
13
8
STL
5
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
32
FGM
15
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
G
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