Although the final score may not have shown it, Southern Miss had to overcome key injuries, an ugly first half, and a hot-handed William Carey to pull out an 81-58 win against the crosstown rival Crusaders at Reed Green Coliseum.
Midway through the first half of Monday's game, it seemed William Carey was going to pull out its first win over Southern Miss since 1978, but with a career-high 36-point performance from Domonique Davis, the Lady Eagles managed to pull away.
"Praise the Lord that there is a second half," Joye Lee-McNelis said. "It was ugly, and it was so frustrating. Our shooting was really sloppy."
SHORTHANDED SOUTHERN MISS
The Lady Eagles were without last year's starters Melyia Grayson and Brikayla Gray, as well as Seton Hall transfer Femi Funeus.
According to McNelis, Grayson missed the game due to a concussion. Funeus missed the game due to swelling in her joins while Gray has missed the last two months due to blood clots in her lungs.
"It impacts us every day in practice," McNelis said. "You have Brikayla Gray, that has started for two years and has been a player that has played over 30 minutes a game for us. She hasn't been on the floor for two months. They found a blood clot in her leg, and now it's blood clots in her lungs. We are trying to get all of that under control.
"I don't like the unknown. I want to get them in with a doctor every day. I want to know because I would like to have them before we go on the road against Valparaiso. I don't know what will happen. We have to work with our players, and we have to challenge them. As coaches, we have to try and figure it out."
With Grayson and Funeus out, Southern Miss (1-0) was thin at the post position. Luckily, along with Davis' day, sophomore Asia Broughton turned in a big game for USM as she came up with nine points and 15 rebounds.
"Defensively, we got things going," McNelis said. "Dom hit some big shots and critical shots. Asia Broughton came alive on the board. She got some easy stick backs and made things happen for us. I think the defense was the reason we won the ball game. Our defense generated some easy buckets for us. Obviously, Dom kind of led us to that victory."
LOPSIDED FIRST QUARTER
William Carey (1-2) opened the game red hot with its shooting, while Southern Miss struggled to find consistency on the offense.
With a 12-2 run, the Crusaders built as much as a 12-point lead with three minutes left in the first quarter. William Carey was 8 of 13 from the line by the end of the quarter, while USM was 4 of 16, which led to the Crusaders holding a 19-11 lead.
USM also struggled to stop William Carey's Lauren Rowley and Rebekah Engle, who each accounted for six points in the quarter. Both Rowley and Engle led the Crusaders with 18 points by the end of the game.
“We have a really good shooting basketball team,” William Carey coach Tracy English said. “I felt pretty good about us.
“At that level when we have to go into our benches it hurts us more than when they go to their bench. Our first group we feel like played well against their’s but we just don’t have the depth that they have.”
Southern Miss opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 20-19 lead, but WCU managed to stay ahead for the rest of the half after knocking down three shots from beyond the arc and held a 35-30 lead.
DAVIS' CAREER DAY
Davis was the needed spark for USM's offense at the start of the second half, as she scored 18 of her points in the third quarter. Toward the end of the quarter, Davis hit three straight 3-pointers, which help USM pull ahead with a 56-50 lead.
"That first half was just ugly," Davis said. "With me, I'm a competitor, and I want to win. That goes with a lot of emotion. I'm working on it as a point guard, not showing my frustration. I was upset with the first half with myself and the team as a whole, so just coming out, I knew we needed a spark. Somebody needed to be that spark, so why not me? It just felt good.
"It was one of those times as a basketball player that you are feeling it, and you are in that zone."
At the same time, Southern Miss' defense scored 29 points off of turnovers, which was partly due to William Carey's point guard McKinley Seal having to deal with a facial gash and disrupted the Crusaders' offense.
“At our level, we are okay when that happens in a game in our league,” English said." We have kids that can come in, manage the game for us and can get the ball to the right people. Against them, when she goes down the pressure gets turned up as far as the pressure they put on us and the pressure we out on ourselves. McKinley has been the player of the year in our league and a two-time first team all-conference player so that’s a big loss to the lineup for us. She was able to come back, but I was trying to be careful with her."
Although Seal returned in the fourth quarter, USM pulled away in the fourth quarter and outscored William Carey 25-8.
"We ran some stuff that we have not even practiced," said McNelis on Davis' performance. "That we drew up at halftime just so we can get the ball in her hands. That's why she shot so many shots. It was set for her to make a play. No one else could do it, so we ran some quick hit stuff so that she could get the ball. That's what we had to do get her going and get her confidence going.
"We are kind of putting pieces together with everybody that is out. Some of the players that we are counting on are really struggling."
Southern Miss will travel to play Valparaiso on Saturday with tip-off set for 12 p.m. while William Carey host Dillard on Wednesday with that game set to start at 5 p.m.
