Women’s basketball battles past Missouri in senior night victory, 72-64
Published 11:07 am Friday, February 24, 2023
Thursday night proved to be a true party from the SJB Pavilion for senior night, with Ole Miss earning its 10th SEC win of the season in a 72-64 victory over Missouri. For the first time in program history, the Rebels have reached double-digit conference wins in consecutive seasons.
Celebrating Angel Baker, Jordan Berry, Tyia Singleton and Myah Taylor, Ole Miss (21-7, 10-5 SEC) kept Missouri (17-11, 6-9 SEC) at bay in its final home game of the season. The Rebels reached 14-wins at home in the 2022-23 season.
As a team, the Rebels were hot from deep tying a season-high nine threes. Baker, Taylor and Snudda Collins added two each. Baker led the Rebels with 19 points, while adding six assists for 20th game this season in double-figures. Taylor tallied a season-high 17 points, while dishing out five assists. Madison Scott tallied her 10th double-double of the year off 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Sharing is caring, with Ole Miss assisting on 18 out of 24 field goals. The Rebels shot the ball well all-together at 46% and move to 19-1 this season when shooting above 40% in a game.
Out of the gate, Ole Miss wasted no time shooting its shot with three triples in a row within the opening possessions. With its fourth three of the quarter, the Rebels took an early 10-point lead at 14-4. Mizzou answered quickly, rattling off seven straight points to cut the Rebel lead to three at 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Tiger run did not come to a halt, overtaking the Rebels with a four-point lead off of a total run of 14-0. Ole Miss responded with an 11-0 run of its own to retake the lead. It did not stop raining threes for the Rebels with Collins’ first of the night forcing Mizzou to take a breather and call timeout. Defensively, Ole Miss kicked into a groove by limiting Missouri without a field goal for over three minutes in the second. Its strong effort limiting Mizzou at the other end allowed Ole Miss to carry a 36-24 lead into the locker room at half.
Trading three’s back and forth, Mizzou cut the Rebel lead to single digits while Ole Miss worked to defend home court. Keeping the Tigers at arm’s length, Taylor’s seven points in the third quarter assisted Ole Miss to maintain its lead. Mizzou refused to go away, pulling within four as the Rebels lead 55-51 at the end of three.
A smooth jumper from Baker provided Ole Miss some breathing room, working to close this one out. Taylor eclipsed her season-high to give the Rebels its second straight bucket, while shortly after Scott added a layup to push the lead to 10 with under five minutes remaining. Triples from Mizzou allowed them to encroach closer upon the Rebels, closing its lead to five. Makes at the charity stripe provided Ole Miss a cushion to earn its 10th SEC win, 72-64.
Ole Miss wraps up the regular season with a trip to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama on Sunday (Feb. 26). The Sunday matinee matchup is set to tip at 2 p.m. CT, streaming on SEC Network +.