Ole Miss drops regular season finale at Auburn
Published 3:31 pm Sunday, February 25, 2018
The inability to get stops killed Ole Miss once again.
After struggling to stop Kentucky late in the game on Thursday the Rebels had the same issues at Auburn on Sunday. The Tigers hit five of their last seven shots to defeat Ole Miss 60-55 in the final game of the regular season at Auburn Arena.
It is the 13th straight loss for the Rebels and a new school record. The previous was a 12-game losing skid that Ole Miss (11-18, 1-15 SEC) tied in their loss to Kentucky on Thursday and was originally set in the 2011-12 season.
The Rebels had the 14 seed locked up for next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville and will play the No. 11 seed in the second game of the first round on Wednesday afternoon. Auburn secured the No. 10 seed with the win and will not play until Thursday’s second round against the No. 7 seed at 6 p.m.
Daisa Alexander scored a game-high 21 points for Auburn. Unique Thompson scored 15 and Janiah McKay added 12.
After the first quarter Ole Miss had an 18-15 lead but another bad quarter in the second allowed the game to get away from the Rebels. Auburn (14-14, 5-11) outscored them 19-4 to grab a 34-22 halftime lead.
Ole Miss outscored the Tigers 33-26 in the second half but the Rebels inconsistent defense allowed Auburn to hit key shots down the stretch for the win.
Madinah Muhammad led the Rebels with 14 points. Promise Taylor scored 13 and completed her double-double with 11 rebounds. Alissa Alston scored seven points.
The Rebel offense also had their issues on Sunday, shooting 34 percent (19-of-56) and had 25 turnovers. Auburn scored 22 points off the the Ole Miss turnovers.
Block party
Entering Sunday the Rebels had 127 blocks on the season. Taylor recorded four of the team’s five blocks and they set a new school record for blocks in a season with 132. It broke the record of 129 blocks that was set by the 1982-83 team.