The Lady Eagles hosted the Lady Warhawks in the Reed Green Coliseum Nov. 13, finding themselves in a close match until a push in the fourth quarter separated the lead for a 77-60 win.
At the half, Southern Miss held the lead by a thread at 34-33. Southern Miss guard Domonique Davis led all scorers through the first two periods with 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
Entering the fourth quarter, Southern Miss held a two-point lead at 55-53. Louisana Monroe’s Kierra Crockett finished the third quarter scoring five straight points for the Lady Warhawks to bring the lead to within two.
In the fourth quarter, Southern Miss held Lousiana-Monroe to just 14% shooting from the field. Southern Miss pushed their lead to as high as 19 in the fourth on 58% shooting in the quarter.
“We went to the matchup zone, which created havoc for them offensively and in turn allowed us to get things going offensively to the other end,” Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said.
The Lady Eagles applied defensive pressure throughout the game, forcing 25 turnovers on ULM and scoring 22 points off of those turnovers.
The game was a very chippy one as refs were blowing the whistle all night. Southern Miss took a total of 43 free throws, knocking in 27 of them for a 63% clip from the stripe. Louisiana-Monore went 20-27 from the line shooting at 74%.
“I was telling the team to take it all the way. We knew they were going to foul us, ” said Southern Miss guard Rose Warren.
There were 57 fouls called on both sides in the game.
Davis went quiet in the third but bounced back in the fourth to drop seven points, two assists, and one board. Davis finished the game with a team-high of 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“My teammates hold me to a high standard and when they tell me to go, I got to go. I had to lock in that third and fourth quarter,” said Davis.
Warren followed Davis with 14 points and Guard Brikayla Gray also got in double figures with 12 points, also posting seven rebounds and six assists.
Despite the closely contested match, both teams struggled to shoot from the outside throughout the game as neither team made a single three. Southern Miss shot 0-8 and Louisana Monroe 0-10 from the perimeter.
Southern Miss will now travel on the road to face Southeastern Conference opponent Alabama Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.
