Feb. 24, 2006

Box Score

USM 71, ECU 56 (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Freshman guard Jasmine Young's career-high 28 points was not enough for the Pirates Friday night as they fell to Conference USA foe Southern Miss 71-56 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Southern Miss (13-13, 10-5) jumped out early on the Pirates in the first 4:18 building a 13-0 lead behind the play of Liz Biland, who scored six of her 13 points during the opening run.

ECU (15-11, 7-8) finally got on the board when Young hit a seven-foot jumper at the 15:36 mark. On the next Pirate possession, Young scored again to cut the lead to 13-4. But Southern Miss would extended its lead to 19, 23-4, when Kristin Chaney drained one of the Golden Eagles five first half trey's.

Senior forward LaToya Horton sparked an 8-3 Pirate run during a five minute span to pull ECU within 12, 26-14, with 5:03 left until intermission. After the two teams traded baskets, USM's Kendra Reed netted four points in the final 2:18 to give the Golden Eagles a 39-19 halftime lead.

Southern Miss kept ECU at bay coming out of the intermission as they held their lead at 17 points, 50-33 with 13:44 remaining. But a pair of Horton free throws would set off another Pirate run, this time pulling ECU to within 10, 54-44 at the 8:31 mark.

Reed and Chaney hit back-to-back jumpers after Young missed on a three-point attempt pushing the lead back to 14, 58-44.

The Pirates would make one last push on the night cutting the lead to eight, 61-53, when Young connected on her fourth 3-pointer of the evening. After four consecutive Eugene free throws, Young drained another three to pull with nine, 65-56, with 1:26 remaining. But clutch free throws down the stretch sealed the Pirates fate, dropping them to 7-8 in conference play.

For the fourth game in a row, Young reached the 20-point plateau and she has netted 25-plus points in three consecutive games. With her three steals she moved into a tie for seventh place on the schools single-season steals list with 72. Her five 3-point buckets gave her 45 for the season, which ranks eighth on the single-season charts.

Junior Cherie Mills collected eight points, all coming from the free throw line, and recorded a team-high eight boards in the loss.

USM had three players in double-figures and we lead by Reed's 25. Eugene notched a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards, while Chaney came one-point shy of a double-double with nine points and 12 assists.

The Pirates will close out the 2005-06 regular season at home Sunday afternoon when they host UCF at 1 p.m.