Southern Miss Falls to Montana in Opening Game at Lady Griz Holiday Classic, 79-64 - CONFERENCEUSA.COM - The Official Athletic site of The Conference USA

Southern Miss Falls to Montana in Opening Game at Lady Griz Holiday Classic, 79-64
Carey and Faulkner record double-doubles

	Tanecka Carey records her second double-double of the season

Dec. 29, 2011

USM-Montana Box

MISSOULA, Mont. - Southern Miss had a pair of Lady Eagles record double-doubles in Tanecka Carey and Jamierra Faulkner, but it wasn't enough as Montana downed Southern Miss, 79-64, in the second game of the Lady Griz Holiday Classic.

Carey led the way with a game-high 19 points to go with a team-high 11 rebounds with Faulkner scoring 13 points while handing out 10 assists. Nitesha Pierce chipped in 12 points.

"Every loose ball Montana got while the Lady Eagles stood and watched," Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We would do our job of making them rush a shot, then we don't box out and they get an offensive rebound and we foul. We didn't execute the hustle plays, the effort plays. We watched them happened. You can't do that against a team like Montana. They are going to shoot the ball and there are going to make some shots, but when you force them into an error you have to take advantage of that."

Katie Baker led the way for Montana with 17 points and 11 rebounds followed by Kenzie De Boer with 14, Torry Hill added 14 and Jordan Sullivan finished with 12 points.

Montana scored 31 points off 21 USM turnovers and got 16 second chance points in improving to 6-6 on the year. Southern Miss falls to 5-7. The Lady Griz out-shot Southern Miss 45.9 percent to 38.2 percent and held a rebounding edge, 39-37.

Montana took advantage of a pair of 8-0 runs and 17 points off 12 Eagle turnovers in overcoming a fast start by the Lady Eagles. Southern Miss hit its first two threes in taking an early 6-2 lead. The Lady Eagles' last lead came at the 16:45 mark with an 8-6 lead. Montana used an 8-0 in taking a 14-8 lead and not looking back.

The Lady Eagles erased a 25-point lead late in the game when Carey connected three-straight threes to get the margin to 16, 68-52 with 5:02 remaining in the game. UM's Sullivan hit a free throw before Faulkner hit one-of-two from the line, Hannah Fletcher connected on a three and Ance Celmina hit a jumper in the paint to cut the lead to 72-58 at the 2:51 mark and that was as close as USM would get.

Southern Miss returns to action Friday when the Lady Eagles play Idaho at 6 p.m. in the first game.