Lady Eagles Open Sun Belt Conference Tournament Against Georgia Southern

Tuesday, March 4

Pensacola, Fla. / Pensacola Bay Center

11:30 a.m.

Southern Miss

(12) Georgia Southern

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Lady Eagles Open Sun Belt Conference Tournament Against Georgia Southern

3/3/2025 8:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. – Southern Miss begins its journey in the 2025 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in first round action against Georgia Southern.

Southern Miss (10-20, 5-13 Sun Belt) finished the year on a high note with a 64-53 win over Louisiana at Reed Green Coliseum. Melyia Grayson (Hattiesburg, Miss.) earned All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team honors and Trinity Rowe was named Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year for their season performances.

The Lady Eagles will also look to avenge a 49-42 loss to Georgia Southern (14-17, 6-12 Sun Belt) earlier this season. The Eagles enter the tournament as the 12-seed after a 6-12 finish in Sun Belt play. Georgia Southern won its last two games over App State and Old Dominion to reach their mark.

The three-person crew of Noah Frary (PxP), Amanda Poole (Color) and Shelby Coppedge (Sideline) will have the call on ESPN+. In-app coverage begins at 11:30 a.m., though Jason Baker, the Voice of the Lady Eagles, will begin the Lady Eagle Courtside Show at 11 a.m.

Game 31 // (13) Southern Miss (10-20, 5-13 Sun Belt) vs. (12) Georgia Southern (14-17, 6-12 Sun Belt)
Sun Belt Conference Tournament // First Round
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 // 11:30 a.m.
TV: ESPN+ // Noah Frary (PxP), Amanda Poole (Color) and Shelby Coppedge (Sideline)
Radio: Southern Miss Sports Network (92.7 FM) // Jason Baker (PxP)
Pensacola Bay Center (10,000) // Pensacola, Fla.

About the Eagles
Hana Haden is in her first season leading Georgia Southern and owns a 14-17 overall record. She has previous stops at Georgia Southwestern State and Moberly Area CC. Nicole Gwynn and Indya Green both average double-figures with 12.9 and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Green also leads the group with 8.5 rebounds per game.

The Georgia Southern Series
Southern Miss leads the all-time series 3-1, though the series is tied 1-1 in Sun Belt play after Georgia Southern's 49-42 win over Southern Miss earlier this year.

Against Georgia Teams
Southern Miss is 14-9 all-time against Georgia State and is playing a Georgia program for the first time in the conference postseason.

Southern Miss at the Conference Tournament
The Lady Eagles are 43-43 all-time at conference postseason events. Southern Miss is 2-2 in the Sun Belt Tournament ahead of its third appearance. Southern Miss owns four tournament championships, all in the Metro Conference, in its 50-season history.

The 13-seed is the lowest seed Southern Miss has ever earned going to the league tournament.

Happy Trails
Head coach Joye Lee-McNelis announced her intention to retire following the end of the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. McNelis is one of the game's greatest coaches, ranking in the top 70 all-time in wins and is currently the NCAA's 18th winningest active head coach.

Southern Miss has known only Joye Lee-McNelis basketball for the last 21 years, which has led to 337 victories and counting for the Lady Eagles.

Award SZN
Two Lady Eagles were represented on the Sun Belt Postseason Awards list as Melyia Grayson brough home second team honors and Trinity Rowe was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

It is Grayson's highest postseason team honor of her career. Rowe becomes the fifth freshman in school history to win a freshman of the year award.

History in the Making
Melyia Grayson continues to etch her name in the Lady Eagle record books and made her way into the most prestigious group against Troy on Feb. 1. Her first basket of the game tied her with Joye Lee-McNelis, placing her in the top 10 in all-time points scored. At Texas State, she scored eight to pass Pauline Love for the eighth-most points in program history.

In her final game at Reed Green Coliseum, she scored 26 to move from eighth to tied for sixth and now trails fifth-place Nancy Faulk by 72 points.

Here is a list of Grayson's peers in this illustrious group of Lady Eagles:
Place   Player                          Career             Games             Points
1          Janice Felder               1990-94           117                  2,275
2          Portland McCaskill      1981-85           112                  2,130
3          Jamierra Faulkner       2010-14           124                  2,056
4          Patricia Nash               1992-96           118                  1,875
5          Nancy Faulk                 1977-81           103                  1,696
T6        Domonique Davis       2021-24           92                    1,624
T6        Melyia Grayson          2020-25           136                  1,624
8          Nedra Hosey               1993-97           118                  1,616
9          Pauline Love                2007-10           95                    1,576
10        Kendra Reed                2005-09           126                  1,537

#BurgBuilt
Fifth-year center Melyia Grayson is one of 45 players in Division I playing her fifth season at the one school. She entered the year already on the 1,000-point club's roster and has a chance to move into the top 10.

Against Texas State, she became the 11th player in program history to score at least 1,500 points as a Lady Eagle.

Grayson also has a chance to move up the charts in multiple categories. Against App State, Grayson played her 120th career game at Southern Miss and started her 103rd, moving her into the top 10 in both categories.

She is now first in games played (136) and fourth in starts (119). She also ranks top 10 in rebounds (fifth), blocks (third), field goal percentage (eighth), field goals made (fifth) and double-doubles (seventh).

Buckling the Sun Belt
Southern Miss is in its third season of Sun Belt Conference play after joining in 2022-23. With Southern Miss' addition to the league, the Sun Belt now spans 10 contiguous states from West Virginia to Texas. Six members of the league are within 400 miles of Hattiesburg with four less than a 300-mile drive away.

The Lady Eagles are 111-73 all-time against current Sun Belt teams and 44-41 all-time in conference play. Since 2022-23, Southern Miss is 28-26 in Sun Belt Conference games.

Joye Lee-McNelis is the league's longest tenured head coach and is the winningest active head coach in as well.

Leading Her Alma Mater
Joye Lee-McNelis is one of 40 active Division I head coaches currently leading their alma mater in women's basketball. She is one of 26 former women's basketball players currently leading the team she played for as well.

Three's Company
Southern Miss is on pace for a one of the program's best years behind the arc. The 2024-25 squad is making an average of 5.87 three-point baskets per game, making them just the second team in the program's history to average more than five three-pointers per game. Southern Miss' current record average was 5.03 in 2007-08 while Southern Miss made its most three-point baskets in 2014-15 with 178 makes.

The 2024-25 group Is currently tied for the second-most three-point baskets in school history with 176 and shattered the three-point attempts record with 521. Southern Miss needs two three-point baskets in the Sun Belt Tournament to tie the all-time record.

As another sign of the Lady Eagles' growth beyond the arc, the Lady Eagles made 10 three-point baskets for the second time this season against South Alabama. Southern Miss first hit the mark at Georgia State earlier this season. The 2024-25 season is the fifth in school history where the Lady Eagles made 10 three-point baskets in two consecutive games and the first since 2007-08.

30 Piece
Grayson tied her career high of 32 points at ULM on Jan. 9, collecting 14 rebounds en route to her 24th career double-double and third this season.

The game also moved her from 14th on the all-time scoring charts to 13th, passing Tanya Bullock (1990-94). She is just eight points away from tying Wilhelmina Smith (1981-85) for 12th all-time.

The Tampa Two
Former high school teammates Nyla Jean and Morgan Sieper reunited at the Division I level last season in Hattiesburg with Jean transferring from Georgia State and Sieper signing out of H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, Fla.

The two won the 2021 FHSAA Class 7A State Title with the Plant Panthers where Jean was a senior and Sieper a sophomore. The two started together for the first time in their careers together on Dec. 21, 2023, at Florida Gulf Coast and last season's run in the Postseason WNIT was the first postseason action for the two since their 2021 state title run in Tampa.

The duo has scored in double-figures together in five games this season.

New Year, Newcomers
The 2024-25 season saw Southern Miss sign eight newcomers to their squad. Je'Mya Evans (Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) and Samantha Shanks (Connors State) both signed from NJCAA while Bre Sutton transferred from Arkansas State after spending her first two seasons at ULM.

Five freshman – Micah Cooper, Jaime Gallatly, Whitney Hart, Trinity Rowe and Ava Shields – all inked their letters of intent with Southern Miss as well.

Freshman Phenom
Speaking of newcomers, few have shown brighter than freshman Trinity Rowe. Rowe, a signee from Pikeville, Ky., was named 2024 Miss Kentucky Basketball after her senior season and has not slowed down since.

Currently, Rowe has started in all 30 games for the Lady Eagles, putting her on pace to become the fifth Lady Eagle to start in every game of their freshman season. If she keeps up her streak, she would join Portland McCaskill (1981-84), Ashley Boehnel (2005-06), Kendra Reed (2005-06) and Jamierra Faulkner (2013-14) as the only other freshmen to start in every game.

Rowe also owns 55 three-point baskets on the season – the most by a freshman in program history. Her achievements earned her the honor of Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, becoming the fifth Lady Eagle to earn the honor: Alexis Hall (1989), Janice Felder (1991), Kendra Reed (2006) and Melyia Grayson (2021).

Welcome Back Bre
Bre Sutton made her return to the floor on Sunday, Jan. 26, at Marshall. The senior guard from New Orleans, La., left the Jan. 2 game against Old Dominion with an injury after just 3:50 on the court. Sutton had started in all 13 games for the Lady Eagles up to that point but missed the next six.

She played 10:41 off the bench at Marshall and, though she did not find the net, collected two rebounds in return to play. Against Texas State, she returned to the starting lineup to make her 14th start this season.

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 hosted 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 –