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Women's Basketball Team Falls In Season Opener To Birmingham-Southern, 70-60
Nov. 10, 2006
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- - The Southern Miss women's basketball team opened its 2006-07 season, losing at Birmingham-Southern, 70-60. Redshirt sophomore Emer Foley appeared to pick up where she left off in the 2004-05 season, leading all scorers with 23 points. Kendra Reed scored 16 points for the Golden Eagles and Kristin Chaney led the team with nine rebounds and four assists. Reba Ross led Birmingham-Southern with 17 points followed by Britni Ballard with 16 points and Hali Moore added 12 points. "You have to applaud Emer's overall effort for us," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "Emer was a big factor for us and we rode her as much as we could. Everything we were doing, we were trying to get the ball inside to her." Southern Miss opened the game scoring the first three points on a three-pointer by Reed. From there, BSC outscored Southern Miss 15-8 over four minutes. The Panthers continued to build on their lead and led by as many as 12 points in the half, 26-14. The Golden Eagles cut the lead to six points, 26-20, but BSC pushed the lead back to 10 two straight threes by Ballard. Birmingham-Southern led, 36-27 at the half. "We've got to do a couple of different things," McNelis said. "One, Kendra Reed is gong to have to shoot the ball about 25 times. we've got to create opportunities for Kendra and we've got to get the ball inside to Emer."
Southern Miss opened the second half on a 9-2 run, cutting the lead to two, 38-36, at the 16:22 mark. Both teams traded baskets over the next four minutes. Southern Miss was able to keep within striking distance of the Panthers, trailing by one point, 53-52, with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Birmingham-Southern began to capitalize on free throw opportunities in the last 5:29, connecting on 15-of-16. "We talked about turnovers before the game started," McNelis said. "Early last season, we averaged somewhere around 28, and then at the end of the season, we averaged around 12. We've got to take better care of the basketball and keep our turnovers to a minimum in order for us to be successful." Birmingham-Southern scored 29 points off 31 Southern Miss turnovers. The Golden Eagles finished the game out shooting the Panthers, 40.4 percent to 36.8 percent. Southern Miss returns home to open its home portion of its schedule on Sunday against Stephen F. Austin in a 4 p.m., game. |
