LITTLE ROCK - Apparently nines were wild in the finale of a six-game home stand for the Trojans.

UALR improved to 7-1 on the season thanks to four spurts of nine points or more to defeat Southern Miss (4-3) 64-45 on Tuesday night at the Jack Stephens Center.

While UALR lost the battle on the boards 44-41, it blew the game open thanks to an 18-5 edge in second-chance points. The Trojans shot 40 percent from the field (26-65) while holding the Golden Eagles to 28.3 percent (15-53).

In four contests this season, UALR has held opponents to 15 field goals or less.

Sophomore Taylor Gault led the Trojans with 17 points. Junior Taylor Ford added 12 points while classmate Hannah Fohne matched a career-best 11 boards. Ford and freshman Shanity James both dished out four assists, one more each than Southern Miss recorded as a team (3).

Senior Janette Merriex added 11 points, hitting four of five shots taken from inside the arc.

Jamie Faulkner led the visitors with 25 points while Jerontay Clemons added 11 boards and eight points.

UALR used a trio of 9-0 runs in the first half to race out to a 36-22 halftime lead. Tied at two, sophomore Kiera Clark hit a pair of layups followed by a Ford triple. Fohne cleaned up a Ford missed shot and the Trojans led 11-2 with 15:16 left. Southern Miss crawled back and tied the score at 16, thanks in part to a banked three by Tanecka Carey, the only shot from downtown by the Golden Eagles.

With the score knotted at 16 with 8:10 left, Gault recorded a jumper that ignited another nine unanswered and a 5+ minute scoring drought for Southern Miss. Ford added her second triple of the half on as many attempts and a pair from the line by Ford and Gault gave UALR its second nine-point lead of the half at 25-16.

Southern Miss climbed back within four of the Trojans with 2:55 left, but a faked three and drive for a free throw line jumper by Merriex ignited an 11-1 run over the final 2:43 of the half. On the ensuing defensive possession, Ford stole the ball and found sophomore Ka'Nesheia Cobbins running down the court for the fast break lay-up. Gault added a three from the left elbow to give UALR the 32-21 edge, the Trojans first double-digit lead of the ballgame. Ford and Merriex tallied jumpers around a split trip to the charity stripe by USM gave UALR the 14-point advantage at intermission.

The Golden Eagles threw up a 10-2 run to open the second half to climb back within six before James added a lay-up right before the under-16 media timeout. Out of the breather, Gault found Merriex on the left elbow to push the lead to 42-32 with 15:05 left, a double-digit lead the Trojans never relinquished.  Gault then added a jumper from James followed by a left baseline jumper by Fohne to force a USM timeout with 13:41 remaining. The break did not slow the Trojans as Merriex cleaned up a missed Southern Miss jumper and found Cobbins for the 10^th unanswered and a 48-32 lead with 13 minutes left.

UALR never led by less than 14 the rest of the way while it pushed the lead to 20 on a nice up-and-under move by Merriex while being fouled. She completed the old-fashioned three-point play as the Trojans led 55-35. UALR built a 21-advantage before a layup by USM's Faulkner gave UALR the 19-point victory.

UALR looks for its best start in program history Friday (Dec. 7) when it makes the short drive to Memphis. Tip time between the Trojans and the Tigers is set for 7 p.m.