HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Mississippi won the Eagles Thanksgiving Classic by doing something  teams rarely do against the North Carolina A&T women's basketball team. The Eagles shot better than 50 percent from the floor in a 72-48 win over the Aggies Saturday night at the Reed Green Coliseum.

A&T (4-2) had two players – Christina Carter and Dana Brown – earn all-tournament honors. Brown was the only Aggie to score in double figures with 13 points. Southern Miss (5-1) was led by Tamara Jones who scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench. Jones was 8-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-4 from 3-point range.

The Eagles shot 55 percent from the floor, marking the first time since George Washington 53 percent on Dec. 21, 2013 that a team shot better than 50 percent against the Aggies. It was just the third time in the 69-game Tarrell Robinson era that a team shot better than 50 percent against the Aggies.

Southern Miss connected on 6 of 9 shots to open the game to take a 13-3 lead in the first six minutes of the game. The Aggies eventually settled in and were able to get Southern Miss' lead down to five, 18-13, on a Michelle Fitzgerald 3-pointer. Fifth-year guard Debbie Smith scored in transition off of a pass from Kenya Hailey to slice the Eagles lead to three at 25-22 with 3:09 to play in the first half.

Megan Brown pushed lead back to five with a short jumper in the lane. Two Brown free throws put the Aggies back to within three before Southern Miss' Brown's two free throws gave the Eagles a 29-24 halftime lead.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, the Eagles came out of the locker room shooting better than they did to open the game. Southern Miss made five of its first seven shots, two 3-pointers to take a 44-26 at the 14:24 mark.

Southern Miss saw its lead balloon to 58-34 with eight minutes to play as the Aggies shot just 24 percent in the second half.

The Aggies will return to action Tuesday, December 2 when they travel to Davidson to take on the Wildcats at 7 p.m.