The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Fall to Kentucky in SEC First Round
6/21/1999 | Women's Basketball
February 25, 1999
By Bill Bunting - Daily Mississippian
Ole Miss followed up its best game of the year with what could arguably be called it's worst as Kentucky knocked the Lady Rebs from the SEC Tournament with a 75-59 win.
Ole Miss (15-12, 6-8 SEC) ended the season in the first round of the SEC Tournament, only the second time the Lady Rebels have fallen in the first round of the tournament. Kentucky continues on to play LSU in the second round of the tournament Friday.
"Give Kentucky credit for playing hard and giving us difficulty in our offense,"Ole Miss head coach Ron Aldy said. Defensively they put is in a position to create lots of foul situations with the way they took the ball to the hole and penetrated."
Kentucky came up with 11 steals against the Lady Rebels and forced 20 turnovers for the game. Ole Miss came out of the gates looking tentative and nervous and never recovered, forcing shots and making poor ball handling decisions throughout the game. "Kentucky came out ready to play and we didn't," said senior forward Lesli Vollrath.
"We didn't step up and hit shots when we needed to."
Freshman point guard Takela Corbitt agreed with Vollrath.
"I was very nervous and never got loosened up,"Corbitt said. "I was tight and tense because it was a new experience for me so I was kind of scared and nervous. I never got rid of the excited, nervous feeling."
Ole Miss had trouble holding on to the ball in the first half of the game, turning the ball of several times with traveling viloations. The most notable traveling offense in the first half came as Corbitt left her feet after taking an elbow that knocked her to the ground.
The Lady Rebels needed to limit the offensive output of Tiffany Wait and Laura Meadows in order to be in a position for a win. It didn't happen. Wait put up 20 points for the Wildcats while Medows put up 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. LaTonya McDole notched 16 points. Also stepping up big was Shantia Owens who pulled down 17 rebounds for the game, including 11 defensive boards.
"We felt they had five or six capable players," Aldy said. "We knew Wait could hit the threes and Owens had an outstanding game, not in points, but in post defense. They have great balance."
Ole Miss was led by senior forward Tarsha Bethley who put up 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her 15th double-double of her career. Bethley was joined by sophomore guard Becky Myatt who posted 14 points for the Lady Rebels.
The season is over for the Lady Rebels unless they receive an invitation to continue play in the WNIT. It's a possibilty that Aldy and his players would gladly accept.
"There has been progress made,"Aldy said comparing this season to last year's 12-19 finish. "I'm disappointed we didn't apply that progress in this game, though. With the way we finished the regular season with two of our best games of the year, I hope we will play in the NIT. We've got a couple of seniors who don't want to end their year."
