Dec. 7, 2006

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- - Arkansas-Little Rock shot an impressive 54.7 percent from the field and placed four players in double-figure scoring, led by freshman Kim Sitzmann's 19 points in defeating Southern Miss, 70-49, Thursday night.

Southern Miss dropped to 3-6 on the season, while UALR improved to 6-2.

Emer Foley led all scorers with 25 points and seven rebounds. Kendra Reed added 11 points for the Lady Eagles. In addition to Sitzmann's 19 points, Anshle Cooper scored 13 points and Jocelyn Young and Andrea Keys chipped in 12 points apiece.

"We played a solid team tonight," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "They have a lot of weapons and I believe they are the best team we've faced this season.

"The difference in this game is that UALR scored 34 points off turnovers and we scored three. We did not make very good decisions, we did not get the ball in the right spots at the right time," said McNelis. "We have to have limited errors from our veterans and that didn't happen tonight. The one complaint I have is the turnover category and I don't believe we started the game dictating the tempo."

Both teams came out the first half shooting incredible percentages from the field. UALR shot 63 percent, while Southern Miss shot 61.1 percent. However, UALR led 43-26 because the Trojans scored 19 points off 15 Lady Eagle turnovers and limited the Southern Miss to only 18 field goal attempts.

"Emer did a tremendous job tonight," McNelis said. "But, we have to have other people step up and score for us as well."

Southern Miss scored the first four points, then UALR out scored Southern Miss 13-4 over 1:37 taking a 13-8 lead. The Lady Eagles answered with a three-point play the old fashioned way by Foley to get within two, 13-11. From there, UALR ran off eight straight points fueled by Sitzmann's six points. Southern Miss was unable to recover.

UALR pushed its lead to 21 points just three minutes into the second half, 48-27. The Trojans maintained a 20-point cushion through out the remaining half.

Both teams finished the game shooting over 50 percent. Southern Miss won the battle of the boards, 27-19, but had 27 turnovers which led to 34 points for UALR.

Southern Miss returns to action on Sunday against in-state rival Mississippi State, in a 2 p.m., start. Sophomore guard Amber Eugene will be available to play after sitting out the last two games because of a concussion. However, the Lady Eagles will be without the services of freshman Nora Brooks, who will miss the remainder of the season with a broken wrist.