March 7, 2008

Box Score

Box Score

Quotes

Notes

ORLANDO, Fla. - Southern Miss over came a 19-point second half deficit in using a 33-12 run out of half time to take a 55-51 lead with 7:09 remaining, to upset No. 4 seed Houston, 71-67, in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Championship Friday.

The Golden Eagles out-scored the Cougars 49-28 in the second stanza and dominated the interior scoring, holding a 40-26 advantage on points in the paint en route to the win.

First team All-Conference USA performer Pauline Love led Southern Miss, scoring 18 points. She added seven rebounds and four assists. Love, who has been playing with a sore shoulder, actually left the game late in the first half with an ankle injury, but returned in the second half to help her team to the win.

Stephanie Helgeson finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Kendra Reed also netted 17 points. Amber Eugene finished the contest with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Eugene finished the game 3-of-4 from the free throw line, with all three coming in the final seconds to help secure the win.

Freshman Courtney Taylor led Houston (15-16) with a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds with Cobilyn Hill chipping in 11.

"I tell you what, what a great comeback by this team," coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "I thought that the one thing we showed that even when we got down, it was the time of the year that you never say die. You know that you can't quit. There's no tomorrow. And I thought this team came back after halftime, after we had a come to Jesus meeting at halftime."

Helgeson hit a layup with 7:38 left in the game to give Southern Miss a 53-51 lead. It was the first lead for the Golden Eagles since an early 8-7 advantage. With Helgeson's basket, Southern Miss made up the huge deficit by out-scoring the Cougars 31-12 to begin the second half.

The game was then tight for the remainder as neither squad led by more than four points the rest of the way.

"It was a great team effort," McNelis said. "We went into the game on a mission to not allow (Twiggy) McIntyre and (Tye) Jackson to step up get scores. Kendra and Pauline and a combination of players, but mostly Kendra played the majority of the time on McIntyre, and I thought they did a heck of a job on defense. Their role players are the ones who stepped up and hurt us. You have to give them a lot of credit because we were in face guard situations."

Southern Miss finished the game shooting 20-of-22 from the free throw line, good for 91 percent. They shot 46 percent from the floor.

The Cougars led at intermission, 39-22. Southern Miss struggled on offense, only shooting 29 percent in the first half, while going 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. UH converted six Southern Miss first half turnovers into 10 points and the team was also bolstered by its bench production. The Houston subs out-scored the Southern Miss reserves, 19-2.

Taylor led all players in the first stanza with 10 points.

Houston finishes its season with a 15-16 mark. Southern Miss advances to Saturday's second semifinal game with the win. The Golden Eagles (19-12) will face the winner of Friday's last quarterfinal game between No. 9 Rice and No. 1 UTEP at 5:30 p.m. EST on CSTV.

Southern Miss plays in the semifinals for the first time since 2006, when the Lady Eagles lost to tournament champion Tulsa.