Dec. 30, 2007

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Behind game-highs of 21 points and 16 rebounds from redshirt sophomore forward Pauline Love and 15 points from junior guard Andrea Barber, the Southern Miss women's basketball team registered a 102-88 exhibition game victory over the Houston Jaguars club team Sunday afternoon at Reed Green Coliseum.

Liz Biland just missed a double-double with 14 points and eight rebounds and Kendra Reed chipped in 13 points.

"I think today's game was a real test for us," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We played against players who have professional experience as well as players who have a lot of collegiate experience from very successful programs. I believe our team had an opportunity to face a big challenge. There were areas we did a great job in; our transition game was very good. We still have to do a better job of keeping our opponents off the glass.

"Another thing that was good, was we had a balanced attack in our scoring," said McNelis. "We saw some individual players make some steps in the right direction. As a team, we still have a ways to go in preparing for UCF. UCF is very balanced and athletic. They will be a team who will be a real challenge for us to start our conference play."

The Lady Eagles shot 54 percent overall in the contest, making 38-of-70 field goals, and held the edge on the boards, 47-43.

The Jaguars were led by current WNBA Minnesota Lynx guard and former Houston standout Chandi Jones, who led the way with 19 points. Four other Jaguars recorded double-digit scoring with Brandi Jones' 15 points, followed by Umeka Webb with 13, Melissa Abraham (former Memphis player for McNelis) with 11 and Menomanee Smith added 10.

Southern Miss led by 13 points at halftime (49-36), however, the Jaguars fought back in the second half behind Jones' 17 second-half points. The Lady Eagles pushed their lead to 15 points, 76-61, when the Jaguars used a 14-3 run, cutting the lead to four, 79-75.

Southern Miss answered with a 14-8 run of its own to push the lead back to double-digits, 93-83. The Lady Eagles closed out the game on a 9-5 run.

All 11 players contributed to the win, scoring at least three or more points. Redshirt freshman Nora Brooks saw her first action this season after missing the first 13 games with recovering from a broken finger.

Southern Miss opens Conference USA play, Jan. 5, at UCF at 6 p.m.