Thursday, March 27, 2008

Next: Southern Mississippi

Tonight Michigan (18-13) plays Southern Mississippi (21-13) tonight at 7:00. Southern Mississippi is led by sophomore forward Pauline Love (16.4 pts/game, 10.4 rbs/game), sophomore center Stephanie Helgeson (12.1 pts/game, 6.3 rbds/game) and junior guard/forward Kendra Reed (12.1/pts game).

On paper, Michigan should be favored. They're playing at home amd have a better rpi rating (78th versus 175th for Southern Miss.). Their only common opponent is Miami of Florida, who beat Southern Miss 63-56 in a tournament and lost to Michigan 65-50 in Miami. On the other hand Southern Miss is coming off a last second win against Mississippi State and they took a very good UTEP team to overtime before losing 73-72.

The Student Printz (the Southern Mississippi student paper) has a preview:
After winning on a last-second shot Monday night, the Lady Eagles' basketball team is headed to Michigan tonight to face the Wolverines in the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament.

Southern Miss (21-13) is coming off a 62-61 win over in-state rival Mississippi State in which Pauline Love hit a game-winning three-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining.
Love finished with a game-high 18 points, Kendra Reed added 15 points, Stephanie Helgeson and Liz Biland chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively. Helgeson also grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds. Southern Miss fought back from a 15-point deficit, using a 22-6 run over the last 9:48.

The second-round win propelled the Lady Eagles to the WNIT Sweet 16. They will play Michigan tonight, who also won Monday night over Virginia Commonwealth, 75-57.

"We did not draw it up that away," said Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "I have to give Pauline credit for seeing an opportunity, but we will definitely take the basket."

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