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The Troy Trojans women’s basketball team (5-7, 0-1) opened up Sun Belt Conference play at home on Thursday night with a tough 77-75 loss to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (8-4, 1-0).

Despite holding a 74-67 lead with under five minutes in the game, Troy would go on to lose as the Golden Eagles outscored the Trojans 10-0 in the final four minutes of play. Troy shot just 37.7 percent from the field, while Southern Miss shot nearly 50 percent. The Trojans were able to force 16 turnovers and also won the rebound battle 44-40, but Southern Miss owned the inside game. The Golden Eagles outscored Troy 46-16 in the paint.

“Southern Miss had a great game plan and they kept making adjustments,” Troy coach Chanda Rigby said of the loss. “The kids played hard, we switched to every defense we had and they had an answer for it. We just have to go back to the drawing board; we feel like we’re better than we played today.”

Alabama-transfer Nia Daniel tied her career-high 28 points in the loss to Southern Miss, while Tai’Sheka Porchia added 14 points. Daniel also had three assists and Porchia grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots. Ja’Mia Hollings pitched in with four points, six rebounds and three assists, while Jashanti Simmons scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. Domonique Davis led Southern Miss with 22 points. Femi Funeus added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Troy’s leader, Felmas Koranga, has now missed the last eight games with a leg injury with Troy going just 5-3 during that span.

Troy is back at home on Saturday, Dec. 31, against Texas State at 2 p.m.