Jan. 31, 2008

Box Score

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss women's basketball team found themselves in a hole early, as East Carolina took control in knocking off the Lady Eagles, 86-70, Thursday.

Kendra Reed led Southern Miss (11-9, 2-5) with 22 points, followed by Stephanie Helgeson with 13 points, Andrea Barber and Amber Eugene added 10 points apiece. Eugene recorded her second double-double with her team-high 10 rebounds.

LaCoya Terry led ECU (9-11, 3-4) with a game-high 27 points. Three other Pirates notched double figures with Allison Spivey scoring 17 points, followed by Jasmine Young with 16 and Gabriela Husarova 14.

"We talked about limiting their players, Jasmine Young and LaCoya Terry, touches," coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "You have to give those two players credit. We did not do a good job of defending them. Anytime you allow a team to shoot 50 percent and score 45 in a half, you're not going to win many games."

East Carolina opened the game, scoring the first four points before Southern Miss tied the game at 4-4. The game was tied one more time at 6-6, before ECU reeled off seven unanswered points, taking a 13-6 lead. From there, ECU outscored Southern Miss, 17-4, over seven minutes for a 30-10 lead. Southern Miss could not get on track before the half and trailed, 45-21.

ECU led by as many as 27 points, 54-27, three and a half minutes into the second half. The Lady Pirates were able to maintain a substantial lead much of the second half on 63.2 percent shooting.

"We struggled defensively against them all night," said McNelis. "They were ready. They played like a team that had been to the NCAA Tournament before and played like a team that won the conference championship. They had several role players chip and make a difference."

With ECU leading, 69-47, Southern Miss used a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 15 points with 4:09 remaining, 72-57. Six of the 10 points came from the line. Southern Miss continued to try and make a game of it. After ECU pushed its lead to 77-57, the Lady Eagles, then, used a 13-5 outburst to get within 12 points (82-70), behind a basket by Eugene and Barber and three-straight 3-pointers by Reed with 1:10 remaining.

ECU closed out the game on 4-of-6 from the line. East Carolina also controlled the boards, out rebounding Southern Miss, 44-31, and finished the game shooting 52.6 percent from the field, including 50 percent from behind the arc.

The Southern Miss will host Marshall Saturday for "Pack The House" at 6 p.m. Tickets for this game are only $1 and will follow the men's 4 p.m., contest versus East Carolina.

"What a great opportunity to give our community and South Mississippi a chance to experience Lady Eagle Basketball," McNelis said. "Everyone dreams of breaking records, so here the chance. The tickets are $1 and our goal is to set a new school record."

The "Pack The House Challenge" is a competition between all of the Conference USA schools to see who can bring the most fans out to a women's basketball game, and is part of the NCAA's "Pack the House" promotion that is a national competition, for a selected home game from January 1 to February 17. NCAA member schools will compete against schools in their own conference, as well as all Division I schools for a chance to be the 2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Pack the House Challenge Champion and win great prizes.

"The current attendance record at Southern Miss is 5,024, which was set in 2000," McNelis said. "Therefore, we need you to join in this record-breaking event and enjoy the excitement of Lady Eagle Basketball. Your $1 ticket will get you in to halftime of the men's game against East Carolina as well."