A regular season conference championship, season opening victories and a key road win sum up a big winning weekend for Southern Miss athletics.
The Golden Eagle volleyball team secured its first Conference USA regular season championship and the number one overall seed for the conference tournament with a win over 3-1 over Central Florida Friday night. Southern Miss (26-4, 14-2 C-USA) will play Houston (9-22, 6-10)in the opening round of the conference tournament Friday night at Rice.
Both the men's and women's baketball programs are feeling good after both recorded wins in their regular season openers. Led by R.L. Horton's 20 point game, the Golden Eagles beat Louisiana-Lafayette 79-72 at the Cajun Dome on Saturday. Coach Larry Eustachy and the Golden Eagles return home on Tuesday night to play Loyola-New Orleans at 7pm.
Not to be out done, Joye Lee-McNelis and her squad went on the road and beat South Alabama 72-53. The game ball goes to Pauline Love and her 26 point and 14 rebound performance. The Lady Eagles next take the court tonight at Southeast Missouri State (coached by Southern Miss alumnus and former assistant John Ishee). Tip off is set for 7pm.
The Golden Eagle football squad picked up a key conference victory with a 27-20 win over Marshall. This was USM's first road win of the season. The offense was sluggish most of the game, but made big plays at key moments to take the win.
The defense still needs a lot of work. Even with an impressive run defensive and an aggressive pass rush (finally), the defensive backfield has trouble containing Marshall's quick passing game.
Tracy Lampley was the brightest spot of the evening with 211 return yards, including a touchdown on a 93 yard kick off return. Unfortunately, the place kicking game still needs a lot of work. New kicker Daniel Hrapmann had an extra point blocked and missed a field goal.
The Golden Eagles now change their focus to Tulsa. Southern Miss has historically struggled with the Golden Hurricane, who has a five game losing streak this season. They are typically a pass happy team with offense that can give the USM defensive backfield fits. Southern Miss will need to correct their defensive and special teams errors in order to get a win this weekend.
Tulsa will be a hungry team also needs two wins to become bowl eligible, but the Golden Eagles will be focused on winning out and securing the Conference USA East title. USM senior's will also be shooting to win their last game at The Rock. Southern Miss wins a high scoring game at home 44-39. Game time is set for 6:30pm and the game will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports.
