Learning from past fourth quarter efforts Ole Miss picks up historic win over No. 8 Kentucky
The Ole Miss women’s basketball team had been here before this season, twice in fact, and both times inside the SJB Pavilion. On Monday the chance was not going to slip away for a third time.
For the first time under head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin the Rebels beat a Top 10 team, defeating No. 8 Kentucky, 66-57. The win marked the first win over a ranked opponent at home in over four years, which was also against the Wildcats on February 4, 2021.
Another tense fourth quarter awaited Ole Miss (16-7, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) but this time McCuin and her team were prepared. Twice Kentucky started to gather momentum and twice McCuin called a strategic timeout while the Rebels still had the lead.
“I said to my husband, ‘If we ever get a lead again I’m just going to call a timeout to talk it through,'” McCuin said. “I didn’t have to say a word. Everybody was in there talking at a high level and they really wanted to win. I kind of just let them talk and then just managed it the whole way through. But I knew I wanted to use my timeouts just to make sure that we were confident. I didn’t want us to start slowing it down too early.”
The Rebels held the lead wire-to-wire the final 10 minutes after guard Kennedy Todd-Williams hit the team’s first three-pointer of the night at the end of the third quarter to take the 48-47 lead heading into the fourth.
Last quarter collapses to then No. 7 Texas and last Thursday against then No. 15 Oklahoma were not just in the back of McCuin’s mind but the players who experienced those losses on the court.
“The whole time in the timeout we’re saying, ‘We’ve been here before,” forward Madison Scott said. “Today we had to show that we had learned from those losses before. I could not be more proud of my team.”
Ole Miss rallied down four at halftime by outscoring the Wildcats 35-20 in the second half.
Offense was once again a struggle but the Rebels did enough in the final 20 minutes, shooting 34 percent from the floor.
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They finished with only two made three-pointers the entire game but both came at timely moments from Todd-Williams and KK Deans.
“It was good because it sparked KK to hit a shot. Once that ball goes in it gives everyone confidence,” Todd-Williams said. “It makes the basket look bigger and it gave us that momentum that we needed.”
Another important stat line that cannot be ignored is what Ole Miss did in the rebounding category. The Rebels won the offensive rebound battle over Kentucky, 27-2, and the overall battle with 54 total rebounds to the Wildcats 33
Despite the size differential between Ole Miss and Kentucky (19-3, 8-2) in the post the Rebels managed to neutralize it.
“We gooned them, but also we wanted it,” Scott said of the rebounds. “This is a must-win for us. I’m not going to say we wanted it more but, Ole Miss like, we wanted it bad. Every possession mattered. Wanted to, again, not make the same mistakes we made in those previous games that we lost in the last three minutes.”
Scott finished as the lone scorer in double figures for the Rebels with a game-high 22 points. Deans scored nine points while Todd-Williams, Starr Jacobs and Christeen Iwuala all finished with eight points each.
