Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss
Southern Miss Dominates Herd Women, 67-39
2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss senior Pauline Love led all players with 18 points as the Golden Eagles downed the Thundering Herd women's basketball team, 67-39, Saturday evening at Reed Green Coliseum.
Love was one of three double-digit scorers for Southern Miss (7-15, 3-6 C-USA), who won its third-consecutive Conference USA game after beginning league play at 0-6. Love tallied a double-double, grabbing a game-high ten boards to go with her 18 points.
Southern Miss hit 20-of-33 shots in the first half (60.6%) on its way to a 30-point halftime lead. The Golden Eagles came out firing, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead less than three minutes in. A lay-up by Kendra King got Marshall (13-10, 5-5 C-USA) on the board seconds later after the team missed its first six attempts to open the game.
While Marshall was struggling from the floor, Southern Miss continued its hot start, hitting nine of its first 14 shots to open up a 22-6 lead midway through the first half. Pauline Love hit her first three shots while the Golden Eagle defense held the Herd to 2-of-11 to open the game while forcing MU to commit eight turnovers over that span.
Things quickly went downhill from there as USM would eventually see its lead reach 20 points for the first time when Lauren Pittman hit a jumper with 8:13 left. A jumper and foul shot by Veronica Ruiz cut the deficit to 17 points, 28-11, before the Golden Eagles finished the half on an 18-5 run to take a 46-16 advantage into the locker room.
USM's defense held the Herd to just .233 shooting in the opening half as MU connected on just 7-of-30 shots.
In the second half, things did not get any better. The lead for Southern Miss would reach 37 points, 57-20, with 11:49 left in the game. USM scored the first four of the latter period before Adrian Randall hit a bucket with 15 minutes remaining. Randall's bucket ended a scoring drought of over nine minutes for MU, who missed 15 shots in that span.
It was all Golden Eagles from there. The lead reached 37 points once again, 64-27, before the Herd cut into the deficit in the final minutes, falling by 28 points.
Chantelle Handy was the lone double-digit scorer for Marshall, tallying 11 points. Erica Woods, Adrian Randall and Tania Walters each notched six.
Tanesha Washington finished with 15 points for USM while Danielle Johnson had 12. Washington hit 7-of-9 shots while recording seven rebound s.
The Golden Eagles finished with a deciding .549-.258 shooting advantage while grabbing one more board than MU, 38-37.
The Marshall offense, which has struggled without Tynikki Crook, continued its hardships against Southern Miss. The Herd averaged 56.2 PPG and a .386 shooting percentage without the junior center and in the first half, scoring 16 points on just 7-of-30 (.233) shooting. In the latter stanza, MU shot slightly better, hitting 10-of-36 shots.
Saturday's effort marked MU's third loss in its last four games and the first time the team failed to score 40 points since December 20, 2005 against Virginia when it tallied 35. The Herd's struggles in Hattiesburg continued as the team is 0-5 at Reed Green Coliseum, falling by an average of 20.4 PPG.
The Herd returns to the Cam Henderson Center for its next three games, beginning on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. when it plays host to UTEP.
