In dominant fashion, Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis earned her 300th win leading the Lady Eagle program. As the final buzzer sounded, McNelis was promptly meant with a water shower from her players after the Lady Eagles defeated Louisiana-Monroe 77-57.
But what made for a comical moment was that McNelis had no idea why she received the shower until moments later, the PA announcer told the crowd of her milestone victory.
“I didn’t even know it,” McNelis laughed. “I had no idea. I just saw the girls getting water bottles. They hadn’t started talking about it, and I was like, what are they fixing to do here?
“I don’t keep up with that stuff.”
When asked to look back on her achievement, McNelis said she strives for success so that she can repay those that helped her in her past.
“I knew that no matter where I went that this is where I wanted to be,” McNelis said. “Coach (Kay) James gave me the opportunity as a player to play at Southern Miss. I loved it here. People took care of me here. The university took care of me here. People in this community took care of me. I’m a kid from rural South Mississippi in Hancock County that didn’t grow up with a whole lot. People in this community took care of me so I could live my dream as a college. I knew one day that I wanted to give to those people that gave me so much as a player.”
With the win, Southern Miss moves to 12-5 overall and 5-1 in Sun Belt play, which places the Lady Eagles in second place in the conference standings.
For Southern Miss, the victory was one of the complete games the Lady Eagles have played all season. In the first quarter, Southern Miss held a 19-10 lead, but the ULM (6-11, 2-4) pulled together a 7-1 run to narrow the score to 20-19. For USM, the 20 points were the most scored in the first quarter this season.
The Lady Eagles then began to pull away with a 10-0 run to start the second quarter and pushed their lead to 39-29 at the half.
“What a team win,” McNelis said. “Our concern has been offensive flow. I really thought we had some great segments of great offensive flow. What has continued to carry us is our defense. When you look across the board, truly, every quarter was much more balanced than it has been. I think that’s growth.
“Our defense carried in one of the few games that we got off to a really good start. That helped propel us to go in strong into the locker room at the half.”
Southern Miss outscored ULM in both the third and fourth quarters to cruise to a win. One of the keys to the Lady Eagles’ success was by forcing 21 turnovers, with 13 of those being steals. In the last three games, USM has forced an average of 23.3 turnovers.
Four different Lady Eagles scored in double digits, with Domonique Davis scoring 14 points and recording six assists and four steals. Jacorriah Bracey scored 13 points, Melyia Grayson scored 11 points and Lani Cornfield 11 points and eight assists.
The Lady Eagles hit the road next week and return to action against Appalachian State on Thursday, Jan. 19, with tipoff set for 5:30 CST.
