The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Cruises Past Memphis, 71-50
11/19/1999 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's basketball team kicked off its 25thanniversary season with a bang, defeating the University of Memphis 71-50 Friday at Tad Smith Coliseum, in the season opener for both teams.
Senior center Frankie Boyd led Ole Miss to its third win in a row over Memphis, with 22 points and nine rebounds. She finished two shy of her career high in both categories and was 10- of-15 from the field. Memphis was led by Tamika Rogers, who scored 12 points.
"We are pleased with our performance tonight," head coach Ron Aldy said. "They've always had a good team (Memphis) and they won 20 games last year. I thought our returning players stepped up and played a much better game than the last exhibition game. That was a huge key for us. It is always nice to beat Memphis, especially with the rivalry that we have with them and the fact that they are right up the road."
The game stayed close in the early going with the Lady Rebels up by one (11-10) at the 12:48 mark of the first half. Ole Miss led by five with 7:42 left in the half, until junior Heather Bantz gave Ole Miss a 10 point lead with a jumper and a three-pointer. From there, the Lady Rebels never looked back, building their lead to as much as 21. The led by 19 at halftime.
In the second half, it was more of the same for Ole Miss. Memphis managed to cut the lead to 12 with 10:44 to play, but Ole Miss' Von-Gretchen Kirk answered with a three and the Lady Rebels cruised the rest of the way.
Junior Stephanie Murphy and senior Sinissia Wysinger chipped in 10 points apiece in the winning cause. Murphy shot 4-of-6 from the field, while Wysinger went 3-of-5 and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Ole Miss shot 42.6 percent from the floor and 31.2 from behind the arc, while Memphis managed only 27.9 from the field and 22.2 from three-point range. The Lady Rebels outrebounded the Lady Tigers 52-40.
"We will enjoy this one tonight and then we will begin to focus on Clemson tomorrow. We are anxious to find out what kind of team we have and how we will do on the road against a good team, who made the NCAA Tournament last year and was ranked among the top 10 teams."
The Lady Rebels travel to Clemson, S.C., Monday to for a non-conference matchup against Clemson. Game time is 7:05 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum.
