MOBILE, Ala. – South Alabama got behind early in the first quarter and could not catch the Lady Eagles, falling in the home contest 73-44.
 
Southern Miss used a 24-0 run over nine minutes in the first half to build up their lead and didn't look back, cruising to their third conference win of the season. South Alabama fell to 7-14 and 0-9 in conference action with the loss. 
 
Michiyah Simmons matched her season-high with 16 points, leading the Jaguars on the day. She tacked on four rebounds, which also led the Jaguar squad.
 
Jacorriah Bracey led the Southern Miss squad with 21 points, while Brikayla Gray added 16 and Melyia Grayson totaled 15 of her own. Gray led the Lady Eagles with nine rebounds, just one shy of a double-double.
 
The depth of Southern Miss was on display, as 12 Lady Eagles played in the contest and 11 recorded points.
 
GAME FACTS

• South Alabama got off to a slow start, trailing the Lady Eagles 17-6 with three to pay in the first quarter.
• The Jaguars closed the first quarter with a scoring drought, down 6-27.
• The Jaguars found their first points of the second quarter with 6:30 to play but still trailed 34-8.
• Southern Miss led 44-19 at the half.
• The Jaguars opened the third with a scoring drought but finally found the basket of a Michiyah Simmons layup.
• The Lady Eagles used an 8-0 run midway through the third, extending their lead to 58-23, causing the Jags to call a time-out.
• South Alabama trailed 65-25 going into the fourth.
• could not overcome the deficit, falling in the home game 73-44.  

 
NOTES

• Jordan Rosier is the only player to start all 21 games this season.
• Michiyah Simmons led the Jaguars with 16 points, tying a season-high for the sophomore.  
• The loss was the 10^th game in double figures for Simmons.
• Simmons also led the team in rebounds with four.
• Rachel Leggett led the team with three steals.
• South brought down a season-low 20 rebounds.

 
QUOTABLE
Head coach Yolisha Jackson:
"You cannot win a lot of games when you shoot 14% in the first quarter. One thing we told our team was we can't be deflated when we miss a couple of shots. When we miss shots, we still have to go get stops. I thought Southern Miss did a good job of attacking our post play. With Zena Elias being out, they did a good job, especially in that first quarter, of giving it to Melyia Grayson and letting her work. We didn't have enough resistance. It's been a tough week for our team, so just being able to get up and come out and show up in those first few possessions, and look like we were inspired, shows the character of this team. So, now we have to make sure our character shows in every possession, whether it's good or bad, up or down. That's the message going into the second half of Sun Belt play.
 
On moving forward:
"We have to get rest and recovery and take a sigh of relief. Hopefully, we will do that Sunday. With our nitty-gritty nine, we are making sure we get a lot of film work so we can see it.  With a super young team, we start four sophomores and one junior, and those sophomores did not play a ton of minutes as freshmen, so with a young team, it's the constant reiteration of how we do things, this is the read, don't go back to bad habits. It's that constant reinforcement we have to do in film work. So they can see how to fix things."
 
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