Nov. 12, 2006

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- - Plague by long bouts of cold shooting and untimely turnovers, Southern Miss fell in its home opener to Stephen F. Austin, 69-62, on Sunday afternoon before a crowd of 1,240.

Emer Foley led Southern Miss with 17 points followed by Anna Patterson with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds and Kendra Reed chipped in 11 points.

For Stephen F. Austin (1-1), Natashia Green led the way with 18 points, Charity Egenti had 14 points and Anitria Mosley added 10.

"I thought our team played very hard," Head Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "They played with a tremendous amount of blood and guts. We had four players on the floor that are not completely healthy. I can't applaud them enough for having to overcome those obstacles. I think it was a hard-fought game.

"Do I think we ran out of gas? Yes, we did. I think a lot of our mistakes came during that time. We have to learn to value the basketball. We are throwing it all over the gym," McNelis said. "We need to take better care of the basketball and if we do that today, we put ourselves in a position to win the game. However, once we can get everybody back into a flow at practice that will also make a difference."

SFA opened the game on a 12-2 run over the first three-minutes. Southern Miss then went on a 12-2 run of its own, tying the game at 14-14 ending with back-to-back three-pointers by Reed and Patterson. Nora Brooks gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game, when she connected on two free throws.

With Southern Miss leading 21-19, SFA then scored seven unanswered points to pull ahead, 28-21, at the 6:26 mark. SFA pushed its lead to 10, 32-22, before the golden Eagles put together a 14-4 run to close out the half and to tie the game when Patterson hit her third three-pointer of the half.

"I also am proud of Anna Patterson," said McNelis. "When she came in the game, she stepped up her game. She hit somes big shots for us and was a major factor. She has made a lot of progress."

Southern Miss began the second half much the same why it began the first half, struggling with its shooting from the field. The Golden Eagles went nearly six minutes without scoring and giving SFA a seven-point advantage, 43-36.

Trailing by eight points, 45-37, at the 14:08 mark, Southern Miss then went on an 8-0 run, fueled by Foley's six points, tying the game at 45-45 with 12:32 remaining. From there, the Eagles put together another 9-4 run for a 54-51 lead with just over nine minutes remaining in the game.

The Ladyjacks scored eight-straight points and held the Eagles scoreless over five minutes, building their lead to five, 59-54. Southern Miss broke the drought when Patterson connected on a jumper at the 2:06 mark, cutting the lead to three, 59-56. That was as close as the Eagles would get.

Southern Miss won the battle of the boards, out rebounding SFA, 48-31, but the Ladyjacks scored 30 points off 29 Southern Miss turnovers.

The Golden Eagles remain at home, hosting Jacksonville State on Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m., in Green Coliseum.