The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Basketball Rallies Past Tennessee Tech, 65-50
6/21/1999 | Women's Basketball
December 12, 1998
OXFORD, Miss - The Ole Miss Lady Rebel basketball team erased a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat the Tennessee Tech Golden Eaglettes, 65-50, at Tad Smith Coliseum Saturday afternoon. Ole Miss improves to 7-1 while Tennessee Tech drops to 2-4 on the season.
"This team showed a lot of heart, desire, and pride to come back like they did," said Lady Rebel head coach Ron Aldy. "They (Tennessee Tech) were so effective in the first half, scoring at will, that it was unbelievable to hold them to nine points in the second half. We started off the second half in the same defense as the first half. The difference was our defensive intensity in the second period. We played as good on defense as we have all year."
Tennessee Tech opened up a 41-21 halftime lead, on 5-of-5 shooting from three-point range including three three-pointers from Leah Bird who finished with 10 points in the first half. Tennessee Tech went on a 28-11 run to finish out the final 12 minutes of the first half.
Ole Miss came out firing on defense and got back into the game, holding Tennessee Tech to just nine points in the second half. It was the fewest points allowed in a half in the history of the Lady Rebel program. Ole Miss outscored the Eaglettes 44-9 in the second period, while holding Tennessee Tech to 18.2 percent from the floor. The Eaglettes made just four of their 22 second-half shots.
Junior center Frankie Boyd led Ole Miss with 12 points and recorded seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Becky Myatt added 11 points, eight of which were in the second half. Myatt dropped three-of-five shots from behind the arc, while senior forward Tarsha Bethley scored nine points and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Tennessee Tech's Bird would score just one point in the second half to finish with 11 for the day. Diane Seng, who was 5-for-11 from the floor added 11 points in the loss.
Ole Miss will return to action next Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 7:00 p.m., as they host UAB at Tad Smith Coliseum.
