Women’s Basketball Heads West for Sun Belt Tilt Against Texas State

Wednesday, January 14

San Marcos, Texas / Strahan Arena at the University Events Center

11 a.m.

Southern Miss

Texas State

Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

Women’s Basketball Heads West for Sun Belt Tilt Against Texas State

1/13/2026 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss (10-6, 3-2 Sun Belt) continues a three-game road swing with a quick trip to San Marcos, Texas, to take on Sun Belt Conference foe Texas State (7-8, 3-2 Sun Belt) on Wednesday. Tipoff in what could be the Lady Eagles' final trip to San Marcos is set for 11 a.m. with the Bobcats hosting their annual Kids Game at Strahan Arena at the University Events Center.

The Southern Miss Lady Eagle Basketball Pregame Show begins at 10:30 a.m. with the Voice of the Lady Eagles, Jason Baker, previewing the game. David Saltzman and Suzanne Fox will lead the ESPN+ broadcast with an air time of 11 a.m. in the ESPN App.

The Lady Eagles are looking for their first road conference win of the year and to avoid falling in back-to-back Sun Belt games for the first time this season after dropping their first conference road test 82-59 at App State on Jan. 10. Jakayla Johnson (Clinton, Miss.) was again a bright spot for the Lady Eagles' attack, pouring in 23 points to become just one of three players in Division I to score 20-plus points in five-straight conference games this season.

Johnson, though, was just one of a pair of double-figure scorers for Southern Miss with Hayleigh Breland (Wiggins, Miss.) chipping in 10 points for her seventh-straight game with double-figures. Outside of the Johnson/Breland pair, the other 10 Lady Eagles accounted for just 26 points as App State found its groove for the first time this season, drilling 14 three-pointers and shooting 54.5 percent (30-of-55) from the floor.

Heading to San Marcos, Southern Miss' starting five still averages double-figures making Southern Miss one of five teams in Division I with a primary starting five (used in 90 percent of games) all scoring at least 10 points per game. Johnson paces the Lady Eagles with 13.9 points per game thanks to her dominant start to Sun Belt Conference play. In league games, Johnson is scoring 23.8 points per game – the most by any player this season.

Meloney Thames (Philadelphia, Miss.), Sakyia White (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and Carly Keats (Philadelphia, Miss.) also hold up their double-figure averages. White leads Southern Miss with 7.9 rebounds per game while Keats is one of three Lady Eagles with 40-plus assists with a team-best 48 while Breland and Thames boast 42 and 40, respectively. Johnson also leads Southern Miss with 23 steals while Thames owns 20 on the year as well.

Texas State enters the week with a 7-8 overall record and 3-2 ledger in Sun Belt Conference play. Along with Southern Miss, Texas State is one of 21 schools with nine-or-more newcomers on their 2025-26 roster, which includes Southern Miss' 10 newcomers. The Bobcats welcomed three Division I transfers, four junior college transfers and two high school signees this offseason to re-tool their team after losing 11 letterwinners from last year's team.

Sophomore guard Saniya Burks leads the team with 14.6 points per game as one of two double-figure scorers. Kyra Anderson posts 11.0 assists per game and leads the team with 7.9 rebounds per game and 20 total blocks. KP Parr leads the team with 42 assists while Burks' 27 steals are a team-best.

The Bobcats lead the all-time series 4-3 since Southern Miss first met Texas State on Jan. 28, 2023. Texas State won all three meetings that season, including 85-57 to eliminate Southern Miss from the 2023 Sun Belt Tournament semifinals in Pensacola, Fla. The Lady Eagles then won three-straight games over a two-season span to tie the series before Texas State took the lead again with a 62-55 victory in the last meeting on Feb. 22, 2025.

First-year head coach Missy Bilderback is 2-2 all-time against Texas State with all four meetings coming at ULM prior to tomorrow's meeting. Texas State's Zenarae Antoine is 4-3 against Southern Miss all-time.

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