No. 17 Ole Miss Women’s Basketball welcomed the No. 21 Tennessee Volunteers to the Sandy and John Black Pavilion on Tuesday, Feb. 17. The Lady Rebels won 94-81, and forward Cotie McMahon scored 39 points.
The Lady Rebels were reeling from a crushing 74-57 loss to Kentucky on Sunday, Feb. 15, while the Lady Volunteers were coming off a two-point loss to No. 4 Texas earlier this week.
Two minutes into the game, Ole Miss went up 5-3. Forward Cotie McMahon made a couple of tough coast-to-coast drives, and Tennessee was forced to foul to contain her.
To the dismay of the home crowd, Tennessee scored a three just as the shot clock expired, but the Lady Rebels retook the lead 9-7 midway through the first quarter.
Out of a TV timeout, McMahon jumped a pass and scored on a fast break. She followed it up with an assist to forward Christeen Iwuala, and guard Debreasha Powe blocked the next Lady Volunteer shot. Ole Miss then got a stop and extended its lead to 9-0.
The Lady Volunteers were on their heels. The Rebels were shooting efficiently, and Tennessee failed to score for three minutes. Ole Miss went up 16-9 in that stretch.
After the Rebel run, neither team could find a basket outside of free throws for five minutes. Even Tennessee forward Zee Spearman, who had an open basket and caught her own rebound, could not end the drought. Ole Miss forward Latasha Lattimore finally broke the drought with a layup, then Tennessee landed a high-arching three from the corner to end the first quarter. The Lady Rebels led, 18-12.
McMahon scored an and-one to make it 29-21, and the Lady Volunteers turned the ball over on the next possession. Tennessee was within two or so possessions for much of the game midway through two quarters, but Ole Miss seemed like the more dominant team.
With three minutes to go in the second, Tennessee made five of their last seven shots, but Ole Miss kept up to maintain a comfortable lead.
Ole Miss commanded a 12-point lead, their largest of the game, and Tennessee took a timeout with just over two minutes to go in the half. The Lady Rebels ended the first half up 44-33.
Tennessee only went to the free throw line three times but connected on four 3-pointers, compared to Ole Miss’ zero.
Head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin utilized her five starters for 17 minutes each in the first half.
Second half
The Lady Rebels went on a 7-1 run to begin the half. McMahon reached the 20-point mark midway through the third.
Ole Miss held a 19-point lead going into an official’s timeout. The Volunteers could not contain McMahon. After a successful jumper, she put the Rebels up 25.
Lattimore had a few plays that got the crowd buzzing, including an and-one and a jumper after an extended scrap for the ball.
The Lady Rebels led the Lady Volunteers 75-53 going into the fourth quarter. They outscored the visitors 31-20 in the third.
The game got sloppy to begin the fourth quarter. Both teams were trading fouls and free throws. McMahon, after appearing shaken up from a foul, scored both her free throws and surpassed 30 points for the game.
The Lady Volunteers cut the deficit to less than 15 points late in the fourth after making six straight shots, but with less than two minutes left, it did not mean much.McMahon’s last free throw attempt bounced around the rim and fell out, and she finished the game one point shy of 40. In a postgame press conference, McMahon said that she felt like she needed to have an elite showing to redeem her performance against Kentucky.
“I feel like I owed it to my team. I didn’t really show up against Kentucky our last time, and we’ve just been preaching ‘be where your feet are,’” McMahon said. “I know this team goes as I go, so I really wanted to set the team and make sure that they knew I had their back.”
McMahon led the Rebel offense in scoring, but she was also effective in passing the ball around. She, and the whole team, excelled in getting the ball into the paint. Iwuala shined under the basket and was a large part of the Rebels’ dominant performance.
“I feel like I’ve proven I can score,” McMahon said. “Now I’ve proven that my teammates can also put the numbers up.”
Iwuala posted 16 points, Lattimore had 14 and guard Tianna Thompson finished with 12.
Ole Miss never trailed against Tennessee, and the game was only tied once. Lattimore led in minutes with 38, and three other players saw at least 34 minutes of action. Guard Sira Thienou would have gotten more minutes were it not for a knee injury in the game. McPhee-McCuin said in a postgame press conference that she hopes Thienou will be ready to play in the team’s next contest against No. 7 LSU.
“Hopefully, she can go on Thursday, because Sira was the one that started off the intensity,” McPhee-McCuin said. “Sira is the leader on the defensive end, and she really ramped it up, and when she does that, we’re hard to beat.”
McMahon and the Rebels were as consistent as they have been all year. They were over 50% from the field in the first three quarters.
What’s next?
No. 17 Ole Miss (21-6, 8-4 SEC) will host No. 7 LSU (22-4, 8-4 SEC) on Thursday, Feb. 19. ESPN will broadcast the game.
