HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Senior Day did not go as planned as Louisiana Tech defeated Southern Miss 67-64 in the season finale on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Eagles fall to 20-9 overall and 13-5 in Conference USA play while Louisiana Tech improved to 15-14 and 10-8 in league play. Southern Miss secures the No. 3 seed heading into the Conference USA Championship Mar. 11-14 in Birmingham, Ala., with the first two rounds at Bartow Arena.

Tamara Jones led Southern Miss with 17 points while Jerontay Clemons had 15, Voche’ Martin had 14 and Megan Brown chipped in 10 off the bench.

LA Tech got on the scoreboard first but Southern Miss quickly tied the game before Tech had back-to-back buckets in taking a four-point advantage. The teams traded baskets eventually battling to a 10-10 tie. The Lady Techsters built a 20-15 lead before Southern Miss used an 11-0 run over a span of 2:13 for a 26-20 lead. Tech answered that run outscoring Southern Miss 10-3 to take a 30-29 lead. The Lady Eagles managed to get a basket underneath from Kierra Jordan, but LA Tech hit a three-pointer as time expired for the 33-31 lead at the half.

Southern Miss opened the second half with a 6-0 run for a 37-33 lead. LA Tech answered with five straight points to take a 38-37 lead before Jones and Brittanny Dinkins added a pair of free throws each in regaining the 41-38 lead. From there, LA Tech used an 11-3 run over 3:24 to build a five-point advantage, 49-44. Southern Miss fought back to take a 54-51 lead capped with Clemons’ three-point play.

With the Lady Eagles leading, 56-53 at the 6:56 mark, the teams began trading baskets over a span of three minutes. In the final 3:59 of the game, Brown hit two free throws to put the Lady Eagles ahead 62-61. From there, Tech closed out the final 3:32 outscoring Southern Miss 6-2. Southern Miss had an opportunity to tie the game with 4.6 seconds remaining, but Jones made only one of two free throws. The Lady Techsters added a pair of free throws with three seconds for the 67-64 lead. However, Brooke Rhodes’ three-point attempt hit the back of the iron.

Kelia Shelton and Brandi Wingate paced Tech with 19 points each while Chrisstasia Walter had 13. Wingate also pulled down 11 rebounds.

Southern Miss shot 52 percent in the first half, dropped to 39.3 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 45.3 percent. Tech shot 49.3 percent after shooting 53.8 percent in the second half. Louisiana Tech held the rebounding edge, 33-30, while outscoring Southern Miss 42-34 on points in the paint and had 14 second chance points.

Southern Miss will now head to the Conference USA Championship, Mar. 11-14, drawing a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed.

 USM Media Relations