C-USA Women’s Tournament: Second-Round Recap

By Julia M. Coleman: SPM FL Writer
Posted Saturday, March 8, 2008

Orlando, Fla – Conference-USA women’s basketball tournament second round action kicked off Friday, March 7 with the #2 seed Southern Methodist University Mustangs drilling the #10 Tulsa Golden Hurricane 68-49.

A 16-0 run to close the first half allowed the Mustangs to head into the locker room up 36-22 and Tulsa never recovered. SMU placed three in double figures, led by senior forward Janielle Dodds with 16 points. Sophomore forwards, Brittany Gilliam and Delisha Wills added 13 and 12 points respectively for the Mustangs.

Tulsa’s sophomore forward Larissa Williams lead all scorers with 21 points and added nine rebounds as well.

SMU moves into the semifinals facing Marshall on Saturday, March 08 at 3:00.

The second game proved to be quite a nail-biter as Marshall’s senior guard Kizzy Hart canned a game winning jumper at the end of overtime to give #6 Marshall the upset win over #3 seed University of Alabama Birmingham.

Neither the Thundering Herd nor the Blazers were able to pull away in the second half, and UAB senior forward Diamond Rogers hit a pair of free throws at the end of regulation to force the extra period.

Hart led four Marshall players in double-figures with 18 points for the game. UAB got 23 points from Rogers along with 17 from junior guard Britney Jones.

Fifth-seeded Southern Miss stormed back from 19 down in the second half to steal a win over the #4 seed Houston Cougars, 71-67, and advance to the other semifinal game. The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the second half when sophomore center Stephanie Helgeson scored to make it 53-51. This basket was part of the Golden Eagles 31-12 run at the start of the second bell to turn the game around.

Helgeson netted 17 points for the Golden Eagles, while sophomore forward Pauline Love led the way with 18.

Houston’s freshman guard/forward Courtney Taylor recorded a double-double in the losing effort with 21 points and 11 boards.

With the win, Southern Miss moves into the second semifinal game at 5:30, Saturday March 8 against top seeded UTEP.

The final game of the day featured the number one seed and regular season champs University of Texas-El Paso Miners against the Rice Owls. UTEP appeared to be sleep-walking in the first half as the Owls opened a 34-28 halftime lead.

But someone woke up UTEP sophomore guard Jareica Hughes (C-USA 2008 MVP), and after shooting 1-6 in the first half, she finished with 33 points overall – 29 in the second half - to spark the comeback win and put the Miners into the semifinals.

Hughes also tallied seven assists, five rebound and three steals.

Rice was led by seniors Kadie Rivering with 23 points and Valeriy Berezhynska with 16.