Nov. 18, 2005

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Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - -- Southern Miss went scoreless over a span of 8:36 in the second half, losing to Southern Utah 62-49 in its season opener Friday night.

Ashley Boehnel was the lone player in double-figure scoring for Southern Miss with 15 points. Amber Eugene pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. SUU's Cassie Hahl led all scorers with 17 points and teammate Cheryl Grant added 12 points.

"The biggest difference tonight was the youth of our team showed tonight," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "When Southern Utah made a defensive change and went into the zone right before the half, they out scored us in that final four minutes. They had the momentum. We weren't able to regroup after their adjustment."

SUU (1-0) jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but Southern Miss fought back and took the lead, scoring five straight points. SUU regained the lead on a 7-2 run at the 14:27 mark. Southern Miss then scored nine unanswered points, taking an 18-13 lead behind the freshmen group of Ashley Harrell, Kendra Reed, Boehnel and Eugene.

The Lady Eagles led by as many as 13 points, 31-18, before SUU out scored the Eagles 9-2 to close out the first half. Southern Miss led 33-27 at intermission.

Amber Eugene pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds

"We run that same zone everyday in practice," McNelis said. "I thought struggled against the zone, but I thought we would be able to rally and keep our composure. But we were not able to do that."

Southern Miss (0-1) opened the second half with unanswered points, but after that, Southern Miss scored only one point over 8:36 while SUU scored 12 points during that span, taking a 43-38 lead at the 9:42 mark.

"I thought there were a couple of bright spots for us," McNelis said. "Amber Eugene rebounded the ball very well tonight. She did a phenomenal job of cleaning the glass. I thought several players did a good job on defense with our switching and denying the ball in the first half, but we didn't do that in the second half."

Shannon Stueber then connected on a three-pointer, cutting the Thunderbirds' lead to two, 43-41. SUU outscored Southern Miss 15-2, building its lead to 15 points, 58-43. Southern Miss managed to cut the lead to nine, 58-49, but that was as close as the Eagles would get.

Southern Miss shot a dismal 18.5 percent from the field in the second half and ended the game shooting 30.4 percent. SUU shot 47.7 percent for the game. Southern Miss out-rebounded SUU, 42-38. Both teams combined for 62 turnovers.

Southern Miss returns to action when the Lady Eagles travel to Mobile to play South Alabama on Monday, Nov. 21. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.