Southern Miss Drops Sun Belt Game at App State

Saturday, January 10

Boone, N.C. / George M. Holmes Convocation Center

Noon CT (1 p.m. ET)

Southern Miss

10-6,3-2Sun Belt

App State

8-7,1-4Sun Belt

Southern Miss.

App State

Hayleigh Breland moves the ball against Troy

Southern Miss Drops Sun Belt Game at App State

1/10/2026 2:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Media Center

BOONE, N.C. – App State (8-7, 1-4 Sun Belt) bottled up Southern Miss' (10-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) offensive attack and used a career performance from Jayden McBride to defeat the Lady Eagles 82-59 on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Convocation Center.

McBride accounted for 26 of App State's 82 points and was one of three Mountaineers to finish with double-figures. Jakayla Johnson (Clinton, Miss.) continued her tear through the Sun Belt Conference with 23 points and a 9-of-16 day on the floor.

The Mountaineers took the game's opening tip but were not able to score in time, committing a shot clock violation. Southern Miss' first possession proved just as fruitful and App State hit a basket to take the early 2-0 lead on the next possession. Johnson took the lead back with a three-point basket for the Lady Eagles only lead of the half.

App State took the lead back with a three-pointer of its own and held it until the final seconds of the quarter. The Mountaineers led by as many as six points, hitting back-to-back shots to draw a timeout from Southern Miss. The Lady Eagles did not find the basket for over three minutes until Brikayla Gray (Hebron, Miss.) broke the streak with a jumper at 1:28.

Meloney Thames (Philadelphia, Miss.) and Hayleigh Breland (Wiggins, Miss.) turned Gray's basket into a 6-0 run with Thames making a basket with 37 seconds left and Breland tying the game 16-16 at the free throw line. App State was held scoreless from the field since 4:18 but drilled another three as time expired to lead 19-16 going into the second quarter.

The home-standing Mountaineers scored four unanswered points to extend the lead to 23-16 before Breland finished off an and-one to make it 23-19. Another short run from the Mountaineers made it 30-21 at the second quarter media timeout. Thames found nylon on the first play out of the break and a pair of free throws from Ramiah "Moonie" Augurson brought the margin to seven.

Southern Miss kept App out of the basket for the final two minutes of the half, holding the Mountaineers to 0-of-3 from the floor and forcing two turnovers. Johnson got her sixth and seventh points of the game to make it a 36-31 game in favor of App State heading into the halftime break.

Hart got Southern Miss the first points of the second half with an and-one, making the game 36-34. Johnson took control of the game for Southern Miss, scoring a basket to tie the game 36-36 with 8:39 remaining in the quarter. App struck to bring the lead to 43-36 over the next two possessions before Johnson broke the streak with a trip to the free throw line. Johnson scored eight consecutive points for the Lady Eagles but Southern Miss till trailed 54-44.

After a Southern Miss turnover, App State hit another three to give the Mountaineers their largest lead of the day, 57-42, with a 15-point margin. Southern Miss regrouped and managed to put together a clean finish in the quarter. Free throws from Hart and Gray cut the margin to 11 before a steal and basket from Johnson made it 57-48. Thames drilled a three to bring the game within six points with 1:32 left in the third quarter, but App State responded in kind to push the margin to nine once again.

Johnson scored a breakaway basket to make it a 60-53 game heading into the fourth quarter. She scored 12 of Southern Miss' 22 points in the quarter and held 19 points at the end of the third. She finished 5-of-8 from the floor in the frame with a perfect 2-of-2 showing at the free throw line.

The Mountaineers again broke out a 5-0 run to push their lead to 12 early in the fourth. Southern Miss made back-to-back trips to the free throw line, coming within eight points of the App State lead. Johnson scored her last basket of the night with a driving layup to make the game 67-59 with 6:02 in regulation left to play.

From that point on, Southern Miss did not score in the rest of the game. App State slowly cobbled together a larger and larger margin, hitting two more threes down the stretch. The Mountaineers led by as many as 23 points in the final minute of play.

Southern Miss finished 1-of-15 (6.7 percent) from the floor in the quarter while App State shot 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) to close out the game. App State outrebounded Southern Miss 45-26 and shot 30-of-55 (54.5 percent) to claim their first Sun Belt win of the year.

Up Next
Southern Miss returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 14, in San Marcos, Texas, to take on Texas State. Tipoff at the Bobcats' Strahan Arena is set for 11 a.m. CT.

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