Southern Miss played its final game of the season on Wednesday, March 27th in a 71-84 loss to ULM in the Super 16 round of the WNIT in Monroe, Louisiana. “The Magnificent Seven” had a playoff run that seemed to surpass all odds, winning two games in major comeback fashion before falling to the Warhawks in their third game of WNIT action. Four Lady Eagles had double-digit performances, but that wasn’t enough to stop the neverending offense by Louisiana-Monroe.
Melyia Grayson led scoring with 18 points, with Domonique Davis following closely behind at 16. Jacorriah Bracey and Morgan Sieper trailed just as close at 14 and 12 respectively. The Lady Eagles shot 41.8% on the game, closely behind the Warhawks who shot 45.3%; however, where the Lady Eagles fell short was their game from beyond the arch. Southern Miss shot 16.7% compared to ULM’s 28.6% shooting. The Lady Eagles also trailed the Warhawks from the free throw line, shooting 76.5% compared to ULM’s 85.7%. Every other statistic was nearly identical. Southern Miss had 37 rebounds compared to Monroe’s 38 and six steals compared to seven for the home team.
Southern Miss scored the first points of the game on a two point basket, but ULM responded by going on a 7-0 run and never lost the lead. The Lady Eagles battled their way back multiple times, but never could get over the hump of taking the lead.
This loss caps off a playoff run out of a movie. The Monday before Southern Miss started their WNIT run, all but seven of the team’s players entered the transfer portal. Whereas fans were used to a deep team with multiple stars, for the final three games of the year Southern Miss had a team that saw two to three players per game getting nearly all 40 minutes on the court, only sitting down during timeouts and media breaks. The seven players that stayed were coined “The Magnificent Seven” and played two home playoff games to a sparsely dotted but deceptively loud Reed Green Coliseum before their season-ending trip to Monroe.
This herculean effort was specifically led by Domonique Davis, who broke records throughout this season and especially during her postseason run the last few weeks. Davis scored 1,634 points in her three-year career at Southern Miss, placing her as the sixth highest career scorer in Southern Miss Lady Eagle Basketball history. In eight different career categories, Davis finishes in the top ten. In eight different single-season categories, Davis finishes in the top ten.
The players had a bigger purpose than a win-loss record or trophies. This entire season, they have been playing for their head coach, Joye Lee-McNelis, whose cancer came back near the start of the season. The hashtag #McNelisStrong was put across Reed Green, on practice shirts, and all over social media. During parts of the season, Assistant Head Coach Jack Trosper took the reins as Acting Head Coach as McNelis’s health prevented her from being on the side of the court as energetic as she may like to be. However, her diagnosis rarely kept her off the court. McNelis coached the final game of the season in an impressive run given all the circumstances and adversity this team has faced. McNelis likes to call her and her team’s ability the phrase University President Joe Paul coined as “Southern Miss Grit,” and the final three games this season had it on full display.
