March 3, 2006

Box Score

DALLAS, Texas - - Southern Miss' Kristin Chaney scored a lay-up as time expired, giving No. 4 Southern Miss a thrilling 60-58 win over No. 5 Marshall in the second quarterfinal of the 2006 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale Friday afternoon. Chaney scored the last four points for the Lady Eagles, after leading by as many as 11 points in the second half.

"We played a great ballgame today," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "I thought that both teams really played hard, made runs and battled the entire way. You would like to say that both teams could win, but that just can't happen. The big difference tonight was that we hit the shots early."

Chaney along with the freshman duo of Ashley Boehnel and Kendra Reed combined for 41 points in the contest. Boehnel led the Golden Eagles with 18 points and Reed, the C-USA Co-Freshman of the Year, had 12 of her 16 points after the break. Marshall's Sikeetha Shephard-Hall led all scorers with 20 points, including 12 after the break.

The Herd got within three at 38-35, but Southern Miss responded with a 10-2 run that built its advantage back to double digits. The Lady Eagles lead was a comfortable at 11 points until a field goal drought over the final 7:03 of the game allowed Marshall to pull even at 56-56 with a 13-2 run.

Reshundra Smiley tied the game with 41 seconds left nailing a pair of free throws after Southern Miss' Amber Eugene had missed four consecutive in the final three minutes. Chaney responded for the Southern Miss burying a pair of her own free throws to build the lead back to two for USM. Marshall was resilient once again, tying the score at 58-58 with 15 seconds to play after Mary Pat Statler hit an improbable bank shot from the left wing.

Chaney's driving lay-up off the glass ended the drought advancing Southern Miss to its first C-USA Championship semifinal since 2000. Top-seed Tulsa is next for the Southern Miss as Saturday's first semifinal is set for 3 p.m. CT and will be aired live on CSTV.

Marshall went the opening 4:44 of the game without a field goal as Southern Miss was able to take advantage of the shooting drought to build a quick 8-2 lead before Hall made a 12-footer from the right wing.

Southern Miss built a 31-19 lead on a three pointer Ashley Harrell with 2:18 to play in the opening half, but Marshall closed out the opening 20 minutes with a 6-2 run to go into halftime trailing 33-25. Boehnel had 11 points, while Hall led Marshall with eight first-half points.

Marshall held a 41-25 advantage in rebounds as Michelle Hagan led that effort with eight boards. Hagan also had 10 points to join Hall and Statler, who also had 10 points, in double figures.

Southern Miss made the second-best increase in terms of seeding in championship history this year, going from a No. 12 seed in last year's championship to a No. 4 seed in the 2006. Houston had the top turnaround going from No. 10 in 2003 to No. 1 in 2004.