Lady Eagles fall on Senior Day

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss women's basketball team struggled to get much going offensively, falling on senior day to Rice, 51-46, on Saturday afternoon at Reed Green Coliseum.

"Those four seniors are precious people," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to get it tonight for them in their final game at Reed Green. We'll regroup, refocus and get ready for two really important games on the road to conclude the regular season."

Senior Daishai Almond was one of two Lady Eagles (16-10, 8-7 C-USA) in double figures, going for 11 points on a 5-of-9 effort from the floor and was joined in double-figures by Melyia Grayson who finished the game with 10 points.

Both squads struggled to get going offensively, as Grayson's first two buckets of the game gave Southern Miss a 4-2 advantage at the first media timeout. The Lady Eagles allowed Rice (11-12, 6-9 C-USA) to go just 2-of-14 to open the ballgame and end the first period with an eight point advantage.

The Owls flipped the switch on the Black and Gold in the second period holding Southern Miss to just 2-of-7, while forcing USM into seven turnovers that Rice was able to convert into five points. Rose Warren's second shot of the half from beyond the arc stretched the lead to six, before the Owls held Southern Miss over six minutes without a field-goal to cut the lead to one at the half.

A quick steal from Brikayla Gray and Almond layup on the other got the Lady Eagles off to a hot start out of the break. It was more of the same in the third quarter, as both teams struggled to get anything going offensively and the Black and Gold held a three-point lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.

Despite the slow scoring night, the Lady Eagles maintained their lead for all of the contest until a Malia Fischer layup and foul gave the Owls their only lead of the game with 1:12 remaining in the contest that the Owls wouldn't surrender.

Southern Miss returns to the road for the final two games of the season, traveling to UAB and Charlotte next week to close the regular season.