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SPORTS
Exciting finishes fill C-USA quarters
ORLANDO, Fla. - In addition to Marshall's thrilling overtime victory over UAB on Kizzy Hart's jumper in the final seconds, the other action in Conference USA's Women's Basketball quarterfinal round provided excitement.
Southern Miss erased the largest deficit in Conference USA tournament history, coming back from 19 points down in the second half to upend No. 4 Houston 71-67.
Rice also gave No. 1 UTEP a run for its money during the nightcap, but the Owls found out exactly why Jareica Hughes was the Conference USA Player of the Year in a 80-71 comeback victory.
SMU, seeded No. 2, also came back after a pair of regular season losses to Tulsa to easily take a 68-49 win over the Golden Hurricane.
SOUTHERN MISS 71, HOUSTON 67: The Golden Eagles shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and hit 14-of-16 free throws in the second half to come back from a 19-point deficit and defeat the fourth-seeded Cougars.
Courtney Taylor hit a layup with 18:09 left to give the Cougars a 43-26 lead, but Southern Miss quickly started the comeback, going on a 27-6 run over an eight-minute stretch to take a 55-51 lead.
The Cougars would come back to take a 65-62 lead with less than two minutes left, but a 9-2 run to end the game gave Southern Miss (19-12) the victory.
Pauline Love finished with 18 points for the Golden Eagles while Kendra Reed and Stephanie Helgeson added 17 each.
Houston (15-16) got 21 points and 11 points from Taylor while Cobilyn Hill added 11. The duo of Twiggy McIntyre and Tye Jackson combined for just four points for the Cougars.
UTEP 80, RICE 71: Jareica Hughes scored 29 of her 33 points in the second half to lead No. 18 UTEP to a come-from-behind victory over the Owls.
At one point in the second half, Hughes had outscored Rice 21-16 as the Miners erased a 34-28 halftime deficit.
Izabela Piekarska added 14 points for UTEP (26-2) and Kasia Krezel scored 12 in the win.
Kadie Riverin notched her second straight 20-point game by hitting for 23 for Rice (14-18) while Valeriya Berezhynska added 16 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Maudess Fulton also had 15 points in the loss.
SMU 68, TULSA 49: The Mustangs jumped out to a 31-17 halftime lead and outscored Tulsa 36-22 in the paint to advance to the semifinals against Marshall today.
Janielle Dodds led the balanced attack with 16 points while Brittany Gilliam scored 13 and Delisha Wills added 12 for SMU (22-8).
Larrissa Williams scored a game-high 21 points and added nine rebounds and Chanel Johnson totaled 10 points for Tulsa (11-20), but the Golden Hurricane only got five points from its bench in the season-ending loss.
