The Lady Eagles go into the C-USA Tournament as the 9th seed

|Shirley Hill, Associate Director Athletic Communications

Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Lady Eagle Basketball team enters the 2016 Conference USA Championship as the No. 9 seed and will face UAB on Wednesday, Mar. 9 in an 11 a.m. tip. This is the third time the Lady Eagles have been a No. 9 seed.

Southern Miss Preview

The Lady Eagles (14-15, 7-11) are coming off a 63-53 loss to Marshall last Saturday. Caitlin Jenkins recorded her 14th double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Brittanny Dinkins had 11 points to go with four rebounds, four assists and five steals. Jayla King chipped in 10 points. Keri Jewett-Giles also had four steals to go with seven points.

Jenkins leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 12.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. She is just one of three freshmen at Southern Miss to lead the team in both categories. Dinkins is next as she adds 10.8 points. King adds 7.5 points and 4.9 rebounds. Dinkins and Keri Jewett-Giles are handing out 3.4 and 3.2 assists per game, respectively.

Southern Miss is averaging 59.4 points and 36.7 rebounds per game while shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 65.4 percent from the line. The Lady Eagles are giving up 58.7 points on 39.2 percent shooting.

Scouting the Opponents

UAB (14-15, 7-11) enters the Conference USA Tournament seeded No. 8. The Blazers dropped a 52-51 loss to FIU last Saturday. Keonna Farmer came off the bench to score a team-best 12 points while Brittany Winborne added a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Chelsee Black is averaging 12.9 points to lead the team in scoring while Deanna Kuzmanic adds 12.6 points and Winborne 10.7 points in addition to leading the team in rebounding with 11.1.

UAB is averaging 61.7 points per game while allowing just 57.4 points to lead the league in scoring defense. The Blazers are connecting on 40.9 percent from the floor and 32.9 percent from three, while allowing 38.6 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from beyond the arc. UAB is pulling down 39.8 rebounds per game.

UTEP (25-3, 16-2) enters the Conference USA Tournament as the top seed and will face the winner of the Southern Miss-UAB game. The Miners lost to UTSA 69-64 in the final regular season game. Cameasha Turner scored a team-best 13 points while Starr Breedlove and Chrishauna Parker added 12 points each. Parker also had a team-high eight rebounds.

Jenzel Nash is averaging 13.8 points to lead the team in scoring while Turner and Breedlove add 12.7 and 12.0 points, respectively. Sparkle Taylor chips in 10.6 points. Nash and Parker lead the team in rebounding at 5.7 and 5.6 rebounds per game, respectively.

UTEP is averaging 71.9 points per game while allowing 61.5 points. The Miners are connecting on 41.3 percent from the floor and 26.1 percent from three, while allowing 38.4 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from beyond the arc. UTEP is pulling down a league-best 40.3 rebounds per game and connecting on 69.4 percent from the free throw line.

Series Notes: Southern Miss vs. UAB

This is the 60th meeting between the two teams in a series that began in 1979 with UAB winning that matchup in Birmingham. This is the longest running series as Southern Miss leads the overall series 38-21. UAB won the previous matchup in Birmingham this season.

Series Notes: Southern Miss vs. UTEP

This is the 18th meeting between the two teams. UTEP leads the overall series 11-5 that began in 1993. Southern Miss won the first two meetings between the teams. UTEP has won three of the last five meetings including a sweep this season.