Southern Miss Lady Eagles Snap Losing Skid With Epic Road Comeback

In dramatic fashion, the Southern Miss Lady Eagles captured their fifth conference win at Old Dominion on Friday night.

Hayleigh Breland (#23) looks on for the Southern Miss Lady Eagles. / @SouthernMissWBB / X

With a potential fifth consecutive loss staring them directly in the face, the Southern Miss Lady Eagles pulled off a massive comeback to defeat Old Dominion in overtime, 86-83, on Friday night. USM snapped its four-game losing streak in dramatic fashion, improving to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in Sun Belt Conference play. ODU fell to 13-10 overall and 5-6 in Sun Belt Conference play.

The Lady Eagles were down by 17 points (61-44) with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter before completely flipping the script on the Lady Monarchs. By the end of the third quarter, USM had trimmed its deficit to nine points, and by the end of regulation, the Lady Eagles had stormed all the way back to tie the game at 77-77, securing an extra five minutes of basketball in overtime.

Top Performers

In overtime, graduate student guard Jakayla Johnson took over the opening minutes, scoring six consecutive points to give the Lady Eagles their first lead of the entire game––one that they wouldn't relinquish. Johnson finished with a game-high 32 points on 9-17 shooting overall and 14-16 shooting from the free throw line in 40 minutes of action. She also collected a game-high nine rebounds and three steals.

Senior guards Hayleigh Breland and Carly Keats helped Johnson carry the scoring load by pouring in 21 and 20 points, respectively. Breland shot 6-16 from the floor, 8-10 from the charity stripe, and also registered four rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 40 minutes. Keats shot 6-15 from the floor, 3-7 from beyond the arc, 5-6 from the free throw line, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out one assist.

Carly Keats (#21) drives to the basket for the Lady Eagles. / @SouthernMissWBB / X

Overcoming Adversity

After starting the season 11-6, the Lady Eagles faced their first true extended stretch of adversity in Missy Bilderback's first year as head coach. Given Bilderback's longstanding career track record of success as a head coach, as well as the amount of experienced talent this year's Lady Eagles roster has, it was only a matter of time before the team broke out of its funk and jumped back into the win column.

Next up, the Lady Eagles return to Hattiesburg looking for their first win at Reed Green Coliseum since Jan. 3 as they take on a talented James Madison team on Wednesday night. With a 15-8 (7-4) record, JMU is the best opponent USM will face in its final eight games of the regular season. If the Lady Eagles can carry over tonight's momentum and get a big win over JMU next week, it could set the table for a big run going into the Sun Belt Conference tournament.