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Another late collapse costs Ole Miss women's basketball a win over No. 7 Texas

11by:Jake Thompson•about 23 hours•

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Ole Miss forward Madison Scott. Mandatory credit: Ole Miss Athletics

On the day where the Ole Miss women’s basketball program celebrated 50 years it looked primed to be celebrating a major victory over a Top 10 team.

For the first 36 minutes the Rebels were the better team over No. 7 Texas but as has been the problem for both basketball teams lately, there are still four minutes to be played.

The Longhorns outscored Ole Miss 13-2 in the final 4:42 to escape the SJB Pavilion with a 61-58 victory, erasing an eight-point deficit in the final six minutes. The Rebels did not score in the final four minutes.

Mississippi native Madison Booker hit the game-winning shot for Texas with 13 seconds left. The Rebels could not come up with a shot on the other end with Booker stealing the ball in the final seconds to seal the game for the Longhorns (20-2, 6-1 Southeastern Conference)

Over the final 2:51 of the game Texas got four offensive rebounds that led to five points.

Ole Miss is now 0-5 against ranked opponents this season.

“I just think as a unit we just have to continue to grow,” Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. “When they needed to make a bucket they gave it to Madison Booker and she scored. For me, when we need a bucket, I wanted to go to Madison Scott. …So we’ll just continue to play through that and work through that and hopefully when it matters the most we’ll capitalize on it.”

Booker was held to four points in the first half but scored eight in the second half. Scott finished with a team-high 17 points for the Rebels (13-6, 4-3).

The bigger problem on defense for Ole Miss was the inability to have an answer for Texas forward Taylor Jones. The 6-foot-4 senior dominated inside with a game-high 24 points to go with six rebounds and three blocks.

“(Booker) didnt hurt us. Taylor Jones hurt us,” McCuin added. “She killed us inside and we have no answer for her. She just punished us.”

A symptom of the offense going away from the Rebels was the fact they did not take a free-throw attempt the entire fourth quarter. In the first three quarters they were 8-for-11 from the charity stripe. Texas went 8-for-11 in the final 10 minutes at the free-throw line.

Ole Miss missed six of its final sevens shots, shooting 38.5 percent (5-13).

“We had to do better things like attack when we got the rebound,” Scott said. “We play good defense on the other end then give up two O-boards to Madison Booker.

“Fourth quarter, game on the line. Everybody tired, everybody fatigued. That was our time to push through and we did not do that and it starts with me. I did not do that.”

Ole Miss hits the road the next two games at Georgia on Thursday then at Vanderbilt next Sunday.

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