HATTIESBURG, Miss. — UTSA made up a 16-point deficit to tie the game with 20 seconds, but a costly turnover put Southern Miss back on top and the Lady Eagles held on for a 74-71 victory on Thursday night at Reed Green Coliseum.
UTSA and Southern Miss took to the court in a rematch of its first contest of the season in early January. The Lady Eagles extended its lead to 16 midway through the third quarter and maintained a double-digit lead through most of the fourth.
A 3-pointer by Kasia Kiejdrowska at the 6:34 mark kick-started a 15-3 run that evened the score for the first time at 65 with 2:31 remaining. With a little over a minute left, Southern Miss (15-9, 7-5 C-USA) scored to lead by three but almost 30 seconds later, Crystal Chidomere found herself underneath the basket and went for the reverse layup to put UTSA back by one, 70-69.
Seconds after the inbound play by the Lady Eagles, Loryn Goodwin caused a turnover and went for the shot and wound up earning the foul. Goodwin sank both her free throws and gave UTSA (11-11, 7-4 C-USA) a 71-70 lead with 21 seconds in the game.
The Roadrunners were unable to hold off Southern Miss in the final seconds as the Lady Eagles managed to get a pair of shots off for the 74-71 win.
UTSA outscored Southern Miss 27-18 in the fourth quarter and shot 55.6 percent from the field. Overall, the Roadrunners fired 43.8 percent. The Lady Eagles won the battle on the glass 41-36 with 29 of their rebounds coming on the defensive side of the ball.
Four Roadrunners scored in double figures with a game-high of 22 from Tesha Smith. The senior center also collected her fifth double-double of the season with 13 rebounds.
The Roadrunners late surge was off a slow start in the first half despite shooting 42 percent. UTSA opened with a 7-2 lead but would be the last time until the fourth quarter after Southern Miss used a 6-0 run to gain control of the game.
UTSA will close out its four-game road swing on Saturday when it visits Louisiana Tech (12-11, 7-5 C-USA) for a 1 p.m. matchup.
