Basketball recap: Saturday, December 22

Lady Eagles finish strong against Central Arkansas

The Southern Miss Lady Eagle basketball team used a great defensive effort to defeat Central Arkansas 53-44 on Saturday night at Reed Green Coliseum.

"Central Arkansas is a very well-coached team and they play extremely hard for Coach Sandra Rushing," Southern Miss head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "Their post players' physical play in the first half took advantage of us.”

Southern Miss got off to a slow start in the first half on both sides on the ball. After Central Arkansas got off to a 9-4 start, Southern Miss went on a 15-6 run to gain the lead. The Eagles would go into halftime with a 29-28 lead.

Coming out of halftime, the Lady Eagles picked up the intensity. After starting off the half with a 12-2 run, the Eagles would lead for the remainder of the game. Central Arkansas would cut the lead to within seven twice in the second half, but could get no closer.

"We talked about getting out, guarding their perimeter players and making it tougher to get the ball to the post players. We had to turn it up a notch defensively and board the basketball,” Coach McNelis said. “We did a much better job of guarding the post in the second half, but you have to give credit to Jerontay, Tanecka and Jamierra for putting the pressure on their perimeter players. Our best defense was when we didn't gamble."

Southern Miss (6-5) was led by Jamierra Faulkner with 13 points, six assists and five steals. Tanecka Carey added 15 points on the game, and Tiarra Pollnitz added 11 points off the bench for the Eagles.

Central Arkansas (6-4) was led by Megan Herbert with 13 points and 16 rebounds.

Men’s basketball collapses late, falls at Wichita State

Southern Miss let a 12-point lead disappear in the final eight minutes as they fell on the road to Wichita State by a score of 59-51 on Saturday night.

After taking a 28-17 lead into halftime, Southern Miss kept up the intensity by pushing the lead to a game high 12-points. The tides would quickly turn, however.

In the last eight minutes of the game, Southern Miss went one-for-nine from the field and one-for-three from the free throw line.

Southern Miss also struggled on the boards, as the Eagles were outrebounded in the contest 44-26. Southern Miss head coach Donnie Tyndall believes that the size of Wichita State wore down USM, causing the rebound differential.

"I think (Wichita State's) size took a toll on us in the second half," Tyndall said. "In the first half, we matched their physicality. We did a pretty good job of keeping us off the glass. In the second half, they wore us down. We've got to do a better job of blocking out."

Southern Miss (8-4) was led by Jerrold Brooks with 18 points. Dwayne Davis added 13 points and five rebounds, and Neil Watson added 12 points and four assists for the Eagles.

Wichita State (11-1) was led by Demetric Williams with 17 points and four rebounds. Nick Wiggins added 12 points and eight rebounds coming off the bench for the Shockers.