To open the book on the season, Coach Bilderback and Meloney Thames, who scored 16 points, led the Lady Golden Eagles to a dominant victory over Northern Illinois University.
The phrase dominant is no understatement as the Lady Golden Eagles drained 12 three pointers in an effort that featured three double digit point scorers. On the topic of domination, Southern Miss was the superior team in the rebound column as well, with every player on the team hustling for a second scoring chance under the rim.
Although the Lady Golden Eagles struggled with scoring on the second chance, the presence in the paint is there, which is half the battle.
A lot of the first half was very rough for Northern Illinois, However, purely hitting shots remained a challenge all game for the Lady Huskies. The Lady Huskies finished the game with a 38% shooting from the field and 26.3% from behind the arc.
In a game where the Lady Golden Eagles never trailed, Southern Miss fans had reason to sweat about halfway through the second quarter when the Lady Huskies clawed within five of the Lady Golden Eagles.
Due to a surge led by Hayleigh Breland, there was no need to fret about the shrunken deficit. Southern Miss went on a nearly two-minute run that ended 7-0 to put them back comfortably ahead.
Lady Golden Eagle guard, Meloney Thames had a quiet first quarter but she began to make herself heard in the second quarter where she hit her third three pointer. That three pointer set the Southern Miss lead to fourteen points with 2:36 left in the first half. Going into halftime, the Lady Golden Eagles were leading 39-30 with six three pointers at a 46.2% clip.
After halftime, the Lady Golden Eagles began to open up their offense and pull away, but that would be after another surge from Northern Illinois. The Lady Huskies came out with early momentum and cut the Lady Golden Eagles’ deficit to only six. However, this momentum would come to a halt when Anaisha Carriere scored her first points in a Southern Miss Uniform. Just like that, with under two minutes left in the third quarter, Southern Miss was back up 14 points.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Golden Eagles saw a lead up to seventeen points thanks to more three pointers from Morgan Sieper and Meloney Thames. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Golden Eagles hit all five of the three pointers attempted to put the game on ice and score 23 points in the final quarter. The game was nothing short of a great display of team effort as well, as the Lady Golden Eagles boasted 18 assists in this dominant effort.
Cheers to the first win of the Bilderback Era, and many more!
