Feb. 22, 2008

Box Score

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss women's basketball team's upset bid fell short against No. 19/25 UTEP as the Miners survived a scare, 73-72, in overtime Friday night in Reed Green Coliseum.

Southern Miss (15-11, 6-7) missed a golden opportunity to upset the Miners (22-2, 13-0) after Jareica Hughes was whistled for an offensive foul with 14 seconds remaining in the overtime period, giving the ball back to the Lady Eagles. Andrea Barber's shot in the lane bounced off the back of the rim with less than two seconds and no one was able to grab the rebound before going out of bounds as time expired.

"I thought we played well down the stretch in the first half," coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We played with a lot of confidence. We made plays. We boxed out and did not allow second opportunities. I thought we contested shots. Every thing we did well in the crunch time in the first half, we did poorly in crunch time of the second half."

The Lady Eagles led by as many as 12 points (58-46) with just over nine minutes remaining in the second half, when UTEP scored back-to-back three-pointers, cutting the lead to six, 58-52.

Southern Miss was able to push the lead back to nine points, 65-56, with 2:49 remaining in regulation, when UTEP scored three consecutive treys, tying the game at 65-all with 50 seconds to go. Both teams missed opportunities to win in regulation.

"In the second half rather than playing with a lot of confidence when UTEP hit those back-to-back threes, we kind of got down on ourselves," McNelis said. "You have to give UTEP credit because they are a great three-point shooting team. We lost assignments defensively and we did not get out and contest shots. When you give three 3s and an offensive rebound and not make free throws down the stretch, you are not going to win against teams like UTEP."

The Lady Eagles placed four players in double-figures led by Stephanie Helgeson with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kendra Reed, Pauline Love and Amber Eugene all scored 14 points apiece. With Eugene's 14 points, she becomes the 19th player to scored over 1,000 points in a career, joining Reed who accomplished the feat earlier this season.

UTEP's Kasia Krezel led all scorers with a game-high 21 points, followed by Hughes with 19 and Natasha Lacy had 17.

Southern Miss finished the game shooting a respectable 47.8 percent as compared to 39.2 percent by UTEP. However, the Miners scored 19 points off 19 Lady Eagle turnovers. Southern Miss led in the rebounding department, 43-40.

The Lady Eagles return to action Sunday, playing the last home game against Tulane at 2 p.m. Senior Liz Biland will be honored in a post-game ceremony.

Sunday's contest also has been tabbed as "Take a Kid to the Game Day." With the purchase an adult ticket, receive a free youth ticket. Mascot Challenge at halftime featuring Gumbo and Mojo from the New Orleans Saints and Voodoo.