Jan. 13, 2006

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - UTEP-Southern Miss Box Score

A baseline jumper by Ashley Boehnel gave Southern Miss a 57-55 victory over UTEP tonight, before 810 in Reed Green Coliseum, in team's home league debut.

"What a shot," Head Coach Joye Lee McNelis said. "What a game. The team is gaining some confidence. We never lost our confidence in our ability to execute."

With the win, Southern Miss improves to 5-10 overall, 2-2 in Conference USA. UTEP falls to 10-6, 2-2. The win also snaps a two-game losing streak for Southern Miss.

The Lady Eagles were down, 55-52 with 2:00 minutes remaining, before a jumper by Boehnel pulled the team within one, 55-54, with 1:41 to play. Lady Eagle Amber Eugene was fouled with 57 seconds to play, and she connected on one of two shots. With the game still knotted at 55 all with 20 seconds remaining, Eugene committed a foul, which sent UTEP's Charnette Phelps to the free throw line with 14 seconds to play, but she missed the one-and-one opportunity, giving the Lady Eagles an opportunity to win the game in regulation. Boehnel then connected on the game winning basket off an assist from Ashley Harrell with two seconds remaining. UTEP turned the ball over on the inbounds play, which sealed the victory.

In the first half, Southern Miss opened the game on a 9-3 run with 17:30 to play, before UTEP used an 10-3 run to take a 13-12 lead with 13:13 to play. UTEP stretched its lead out to five, 19-14 with 10:03 remaining, before Southern Miss got back even at 19-19 on a three-point basket from Ashley Harrell. But UTEP again pushed its lead out to five, 26-19 with 4:40 in the half, and then out to eight, 32-25 with 1:54 to play. The Lady Eagle then closed the half on a 5-0 run, capped by a three-point basket by Ashley Boehnel at the halftime buzzer, as they found themselves down 32-30.

UTEP out-shot Southern Miss 40.4 (23-57) to 32.7 (17-52) percent. UTEP also held a 41-34 edge in rebounds.

Boehnel finished with 19 points tonight, while Eugene finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the second double-double of her career. Kendra Reed added 12, while Harrell netted eight.

Kasia Krezel and Whitney Thornton each had 16 points for UTEP.

Southern Miss returns to action on Sunday, hosting Tulane in a 2 p.m., contest in Reed Green Coliseum.