HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss (18-7, 11-3) won its sixth consecutive game, as a 32-14 halftime lead propelled the Lady Eagles to a 70-53 victory over the Lady Monarchs (14-10, 7-6) on Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum. Old Dominion’s Destinee Young netted a career high 18 points on 7-10 shooting from the floor in 24 minutes of work to compliment six rebounds. Southern Miss has now won of eight of its last nine ballgames.
USM’s Jerontay Clemons led all scorers with 22 points to compliment 11 rebounds, while Kierra Jordan followed with 12 points and a career high 14 rebounds.
Jennie Simms recorded her seventh double-double in a 15 point and 13 rebound performance; 13 rebounds is just one shy of Simms’ career high. Tiffany Minor followed with 12 points and five rebounds. Young hauled down six rebounds and tallied two steals to go along with her career high of 18 points.
Old Dominion outscored USM 39-38 in the second half, however; the Lady Monarchs were held to 14 points in the first half, while the Lady Eagles managed to scored 32 in the opening 20 minutes of action.
The first 10 minutes of the first half were back and forth, experiencing three ties and one lead change. A Jennie Simms three-pointer at the 10:42 mark, brought ODU within three points, 12-9. The Lady Eagles used a 13-2 run over the next five-plus minutes to take a 25-11 lead with 5:14 left in the first, before claiming a 32-14 advantage in the locker room at halftime.
A Destinee Young layup with 16:45 left in the second half, brought the score to 38-22 in favor of Southern Miss. Keyana Brown made a mid-range jump-shot to cut ODU’s deficit down to 16 (49-33) at the 7:24 mark.
The Lady Monarchs trailed by as many as 22 points at one point in the second half. Tiffany Minor drilled a three-pointer with 4:40 to play in the contest, bringing ODU within 13, 54-41, which would be as close as Old Dominion would get the rest of the way.
The Lady Eagles did not commit a turnover in the first half. Southern Miss held advantages in points off turnovers (22-6), fast-break points (12-0) and bench points (17-4). The Lady Monarchs outrebounded USM, 48-45.
For the contest, Old Dominion shot 28.8% (19-66) from the floor, 16.7% (5-30) from three and 71.4% (10-14) from the charity stripe. Southern Miss connected on 39.4% (22-66) of its field goal attempts, 25% (3-12) from deep and 68.2% (15-22) from the free-throw line.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY MONARCHS
Old Dominion will travel to Ruston, La. for a Sunday, Feb. 22, contest against LA Tech on FOX SPORTS NETWORK. Tipoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. EST.
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