JONESBORO, Ark. (2/12/25) – Arkansas State women’s basketball (16-8, 12-1 SBC) used a fierce defensive effort to power past Southern Miss (9-16, 4-9 SBC) in a 74-53 victory on Wednesday night at First National Bank Arena.
 
Mimi McCollister led all scorers with a career high 17 points while also tallying eight rebounds and four assists. Kyanna Morgan led the team on defense, setting a new career mark with six steals.
 
As a team, A-State shot 28-for-83 (33.7 percent) from the floor and 12-for-40 (30 percent) from beyond the arc. The 83 field goal attempts are the eighth most in a game in program history, while the 40 three-point attempts are the third most this season and the fourth most in school history.
 
The Scarlet and Black also finished with 54 rebounds, bringing down 25 on the offensive glass.
 
The Red Wolves faced early offensive struggles, falling behind 6-0 before a Crislyn Rose basket put A-State on the board with 4:14 to go. A pair of baskets from Rose and McCollister tied the game, but five of the last seven points went to Southern Miss as the opening period resulted in an 11-8 deficit.
 
The Golden Eagles opened an eight-point lead and held a 19-12 advantage with 6:42 to go, but a 14-0 run spearheaded by nine points from Montue put the Scarlet and Black in front for the first time in the game. A-State added two more triples and scored back-to-back layups with less than 10 seconds in the quarter to enter halftime ahead 36-26.
 
A-State shot 14-for-47 (29.8 percent) from the field and 5-for-23 (21.7 percent) from three-point range in the first half, netting all five triples in the second. The Red Wolves held Southern Miss to 10 field goals on 26 shots and forced 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
 
Defense returned to the forefront in the second half as A-State was outscored 6-2 in the first 7:14 of action. A triple from Mimi McCollister sparked an 11-2 run to close the third, allowing A-State to take a 49-34 advantage into the fourth.
 
The lead grew to 19 before a pair of three-pointers fell for the Golden Eagles, but it would not fall below 14 the rest of the way. A 9-0 run for A-State starting at the 4:30 mark put the game out of reach at 71-48 before the Red Wolves finished with a 21-point victory.
 
The Scarlet and Black are guaranteed to finish above .500 for the first time since 2015-16.
 
NEXT UP
A-State concludes the 2024-25 home slate with Senior Day against Texas State on Saturday, February 15, at 12:00 p.m. inside First National Bank Arena. Listeners can find the game on 95.3/96.9 The Ticket Radio Network while viewers can watch on ESPN+.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For the latest on the A-State women’s basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter/X and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.