Jan. 24, 2008

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss women's basketball team returns home to begin a five-game home stand, beginning with UCF Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. The Lady Eagles have lost their last four games. The game will be broadcasted over WXHB-FM 96.5 with the "Voice of the Lady Eagles" Jason Baker providing play-by-play action with former coach Kay James as the color analyst.

Southern Miss (10-8, 1-4) comes into the game with a four-game losing streak after a 71-61 loss at Houston. In that game, Southern Miss had two players record double-doubles, led by Pauline Love's 19 points and 16 rebounds. Liz Biland recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Love continues to lead the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.6 and 11.4, respectively, while two other Lady Eagles average double figures with Kendra Reed 10.6 and Amber Eugene 10.2. Andrea Barber leads the team in assists with 5.8 per game. She is two assists shy of recording 100 assists on the season.

As a team, the Lady Eagles are averaging 72.6 points and 41.4 rebounds, while shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the line. Southern Miss has connected on 96-of-311 threes for 35.4 percent.

UCF (8-10, 1-4) is coming off a 68-49 win over Rice, in which Jelisa Caldwell came off the bench to score a game-high 20 points. Tia Lewis recorded her 12th double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Lewis leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.3 points and 12.4 rebounds, while three other Knights are averaging in double digits as well, Emma Cannon (10.7), Marshay White (10.4) and D'Nay Daniels (10.3).As a team, the Knights are averaging 67.7 points and 44.2 rebounds, while shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 63.6 percent from the line.

Coach Joi Williams is in her first season at the helm of the UCF program. Williams comes to UCF after a successful career at Murray State, where she turned around the Racers program and led the team to a 15-5 Ohio Valley Conference record her final season and an appearance in the Women's NIT. Lewis is one of only two players in the league to average a double-double (13.3 points/12.4 rebounds). Lewis leads the league in rebounding. UCF ranks first in C-USA in rebounding offense with 44.2 boards per game, while also leading the league and ranking 14th in the nation in rebound margin with a +8.4 advantage. Four of the top five scorers average in double figures. The Knights lead C-USA in double-doubles by a team with 20.

This is the 11th meeting between the two teams and Southern Miss leads the series with UCF, 10-0, including winning the meeting to open the C-USA schedule this season.

Following the UCF game, Southern Miss continues its home stand, hosting East Carolina, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.