Lady Eagles Hold Off UAB Late for Third Straight Win, 77-64 :: Stephanie Helgeson scores a season-best 26 points, while Pauline Love adds 15th double-double of the season.

Stephanie Helgeson scores a season-best 26 points, while Pauline Love adds 15th double-double of the season.

Feb. 9, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Stephanie Helgeson tallied a season-high 26 points and Pauline Love tallied her 15th double-double of the season as Southern Miss defeated UAB 77-64 in women's basketball Conference USA action here Saturday evening at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Lady Eagles (14-9 overall, 5-5 C-USA) won for the third-straight time and fourth time in the last five games.

Love added 18 points and 13 rebounds for Southern Miss, while Andrea Barber added nine points which included some clutch free throws down the stretch to go along with seven assists.

"I'm really proud of my girls' performance tonight," Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "They beat a good team in UAB. They were able to keep the game close, but luckily we came out on top."

Southern Miss built a big first-half lead on the strength of a 16-0 run over almost a seven-minute and led 36-22 at the half. Helgeson tallied eight points during that spurt as she finished by hitting 9-of-16 shots from the floor.

"Stephanie continues to get better," Lee-McNelis said. "She struggled earlier in the season with our conditioning, but she's realized how important she is to this team and has really come along.

"I think one thing that Steph does that doesn't really show up in the stats is that she alters a lot of shots."

UAB (11-12, 7-3) started the second half strong on a 9-2 run, but Kendra Reed and Love tallied consecutive 3-pointers to push the advantage back to double digits.

Southern Miss extended its lead to as many as 21 points in the second half, at 59-38 with 11:12 to play, but the Lady Blazers rallied down the stretch.

Behind Amanda Peterson's 4-of-5 3-pointers, including the last one with 2:24 left, UAB cut the gap to six at 70-64.

"We had to make some adjustments when she (Peterson) started heating up," Lee-McNelis added. "We tried some different things, and finally had some success with man-to-man and we were able to limit her open looks."

From there, Barber hit five-of-six free throws over the final 1:10 to help put the game out of reach.

Crystal McFadden led the Lady Blazers with 21 players, while Peterson added 15 and Britney Jones tallied 11.

The Lady Eagles return to action Friday when they travel to league foe East Carolina. Game time is set for 6 p.m., CT.