Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss*
Herd Women Fall at Southern Miss, 67-63
1/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2006
Marshall-Southern Miss Game Book
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Despite a late comeback attempt, the Marshall women's basketball team lost its first Conference USA game of the season with a 67-63 setback to Southern Miss on Sunday at Reed Green Coliseum.
Marshall (10-6, 5-1 C-USA) staged a late fight to crawl within three points with 17 seconds left after it found itself down nine points with 55 seoncds remaining. Bridget Chacon and Sikeetha Shepard-Hall scored 10 points combined in the final 1:28, along with a bucket by Reshundra Smiley, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Golden Eagles.
Chacon nearly intercepted a Southern Miss inbounds pass with under 10 seconds left and MU down three, but it glanced off her fingers and forced the Herd to foul.
Southern Miss (8-10, 5-2 C-USA) shot 44.9 percent in the game, the highest mark against Marshall all season by a conference foe. Ashley Boehnel scored a game-high 20 points. She was one of four Golden Eagles in double figures, along with 13 apiece from Kendra Reed and Ashley Harrell and 12 from Amber Eugene.
USM dressed eight players for the game and found itself down to six in the second half. Center Liz Biland fouled out with 2:40 left and Eugene was ejected after her second technical with 12:04 remaining.
MU, minus the services of starting point guard Mary Pat Statler, also had four players in double figures, paced by 15 from Shepard-Hall. Modupe Ishola scored 14 points and KaShawna Curry and Chacon each netted 10 points.
Southern Miss entered halftime leading 36-29. The Golden Eagles took advantage of poor Thundering Herd shooting in the first half (28.1 percent) by going 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) from the floor. Boehnel netted 12 first-half points while Reed scored nine.
USM was hot from downtown as well, going 5-for-7 in the first half from beyond the arc.
Shepard-Hall's 3-pointer at 18:09 gave Marshall its lone lead, 3-2, of the first half. Field goals would be tough to come by, as the Herd's sloppy play early in the offensive end allowed Southern Miss to jump to an 11-3 lead. Marshall failed to convert several close range shots, but a Curry jumper got the Herd going and kept the USM lead minimal.
Ishola paced Marshall in scoring in the opening frame with eight points, going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Shepard-Hall's trey moved her into a first place tie with Natal Rosko (1994-98) for the school record for career 3-point field goals (136).
Marshall returns to non-conference action on Wednesday when it takes on intrastate rival West Virginia at the Charleston Civic Center at 5:30 p.m.
