Hattiesburg, Miss. --- The Tennessee State University women’s basketball team fell to Southern Mississippi 79-57 on the road Monday night in Reed Green Coliseum.

Tennessee State falls to 1-1 while Southern Mississippi moves to 2-0 on the season.

Tiffany Jackson finished the game with 23 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double while Tequila Martin came off the bench to add 10 points and seven boards for the Lady Tigers.

Five Eagles scored in double-digits led by Stephanie Helgeson’s 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Following the opening tip, Tennessee State went for nearly two minutes without scoring a basket and quickly fell behind 6-0. The Lady Tigers got on the board at the 18:03 mark but the Eagles had stretched the advantage to 12-2 before the first media timeout. Two three-pointers and a lay-up swelled the USM lead to 29-7 before went into the break with a commanding 41-15 lead.

Tiffany Jackson had 11 points for Tennessee State at the half while as a team the Lady Tigers shot 25 percent from the field (7-of-28) and were 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.

USM outscored TSU 9-5 in the opening four minutes of the second half to build the lead to 50-20. The Lady Tigers cut the deficit down to 21 points (61-40) at the 8:17 mark but two break-away lay-ups by the Eagles put USM back on top 70-41. TSU made small runs down the stretch and outscored USM 42-38 in the second half but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.

TSU improved its shooting in the second half knocking down 12-of-30 shots (40 %) but only managed a shooting percentage of 20% (2-of-10) from beyond the arc.

The Lady Tigers return to action this weekend when they participate in the Fifth Third Classic hosted by Marshall University. TSU will face Marshall on Friday before matching-up with either Morgan State or Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.