Kennedy Todd-Williams career night helps Ole Miss rout Vanderbilt in bounce-back win
The final quarter in College Station on Sunday was a humbling experience for the Ole Miss women’s basketball team. The humble pie seemed to take as Thursday inside the SJB Pavilion things were a different story.
Ole Miss defeated Vanderbilt 87-59 in dominant fashion, reverting back to the ‘dictate and distrupt’ defense Yolett McPhee-McCuin is known for during her seven years in Oxford.
A bounce-back win that was stress free, but only after the first 10 minutes. Sloppiness was the theme of the first quarter with a combined nine turnovers from both teams.
Once the Rebels settled in the final 30 minutes felt cathartic for the players after Sunday’s missed opportunity at a Southeastern Conference road win over a lesser opponent in Texas A&M.
“I just couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking about not sitting back and letting people think we’re sitting ducks because we lost one on the road,” McCuin said. “We’re going to show them that we’re ready to fight.”
Ole Miss (11-4, 2-1 SEC) was led by a career night from Kennedy Todd-Williams. The senior scored a career-best 25 points and made five three-points, also a new career high. Her seven assists set a new season-high.
The 25 points was the most scored by a Rebel in a single game this season.
As a team, Ole Miss shot 52 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three-point range (9-22). Thursday was the third time this season all five starters finished in double-digits.
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Freshman guard Sira Thienou scored 16 points while Madison Scott, Starr Jacobs and Tamieya Sadler each finished with 10 points.
“Just being shot ready,” Todd-Williams said. “Obviously, the past couple games I haven’t been shooting my best from the three. Being able to see that one go in, it felt good. Got my confidence flowing. Felt really good and my teammates were finding me. I was being shot ready.”
McCuin’s staple defense was back on display with the Rebels scoring 22 points off 23 Commodore turnovers. Vanderbilt (14-3, 1-2) faced its largest halftime deficit of the season on Thursday at 19 points and the final margin of defeat was the largest for the Commodores this season, too.
“That is our offense. Our defense is our engine to our offense,” McCuin said. “When we get stops we can play at a tempo that we wanted to play. …It does something to us. That’s who we are. We get steals, we can run, we’re athletic. We’re a tough out when we’re in transition and then usually we get that momentum and now we’re driving and kicking and (Todd-Williams) is getting those threes and other people are stepping up.”
Ole Miss returns to the court on Sunday when it hosts No. 18 Alabama (15-1, 2-0) at 3 p.m. CT
