Ole Miss women give up 100 in loss at Missouri

Published 10:44 pm Thursday, February 23, 2017

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Ole Miss women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome a hot-shooting Missouri team that shot 60.9 percent from long range in a 100-65 loss to the Tigers on Thursday night.

Madinah Muhammad led the Rebels with 26 points for her 17th game in double figures this season. Her 26 points are a new career-high, and her team-best seven rebounds are also a career-best.

Ole Miss couldn’t get anything going to cut into the Missouri lead in the second half, but there were several bright spots with Ole Miss’ young players. Freshman Kate Rodgers and Bree Glover both got valuable minutes in the contest, and both made their way into the scorebook. Shandricka Sessom added 11 points to move just 12 points from 1,000.

Email newsletter signup

For the second straight game, Ole Miss struggled from the floor, shooting just 35 percent (21 of 60) from the field. Meanwhile, the Tigers shot a blistering 60 percent (30 of 50) from the floor and 60.9 percent (14 of 23) from long range.

The second quarter again proved to be a struggle for the Rebels as they opened the quarter 0 of 7. Missouri used six 3-pointers, including three from Sophie Cunningham, to open up a 26-point lead with 3:20 left in the first half. The Rebels found themselves in a 3:30 scoring drought before a free throw and a 3-pointer from Muhammad with 48 seconds to go, but Missouri took a 50-26 lead at halftime. Alissa Alston was a bright spot in the first half with six points while Muhammad reached double digits for the second straight game with 11 first-half points.

Ole Miss opened the game with five-point advantage courtesy of a game-opening triple from Sessom and a bucket from Muhammad. The Tigers didn’t waste any time making it a game with a 7-0 run to take a 7-5 lead before a Taylor Manuel bucket underneath ended the scoring drought for the Rebels. Trailing 11-7 at the first quarter media timeout, the teams traded buckets and old-fashioned 3-point plays before Mizzou used an 8-0 run to take a 22-12 lead. Alston ended the drought with a make from the free-throw line, but the home team took a 24-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.