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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
10-0
Wichita State
2-5
Ole Miss Women's Basketball Defeats Wichita State
12/19/2000 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2000
LONG BEACH, Calif.- The Ole Miss women's basketball team held off Wichita State 68-62 to go 10-0 for the first time since the 1994-95 season. They will meet Indiana at 9:30 p.m. CT, who defeated Long Beach State in their game.
"We are fortunate to be in the championship game, Lady Rebel head coach Ron Aldy said. We played very inconsistent tonight and had trouble playing solid basketball for long stretches. We had a double-digit lead, but we were never in command. In the championship game, we know we will face a much tougher challenge."
Ole Miss jumped led 9-8 at the 16:13 mark of the first half, but went on a 14-5 run to go ahead by nine (25-16) with 10:06 left. Wichita State answered with a 13-2 run of their own to take a 30-27 lead with 6:21 remaining in the first half.
The Lady Rebels tied it up 32-32 on a jumper by Becky Myatt and led by as much as eight with 1:53 to go. The Shockers' LaToya Jackson scored six of her seven points on two threes right before the half to make it a five-point (45-40) Ole Miss lead.
Ole Miss used a 6-1 run to begin the second half as they opened up the lead to 12 (53-41) with 16:22 in the game. But Ole Miss could not pull away, going nearly seven minutes without scoring a field goal. Junior TaShondrea Moton erased the drought with a layup at the 9:43 mark as Ole Miss led 55-49.
Wichita State used a 7-2 run to cut the lead to one (57-56) at the 6:34 mark, but junior Kayla Madewell nailed a three and Ole Miss made five free throws down the stretch to hold off the Shockers.
Sherika Wright scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the second half. Von Kirk finished with 12 and Myatt added 11 including two three-pointers. She now needs four threes to become the career leader. She also needs 33 points to reach 1,000 for her career. Moton went 4-of-7 from the field for nine points and freshman Tywanna Inmon scored nine as well.
Wichita State was led by Jennifer Kaczka, who recorded a double-double with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 12 rebounds. Raeven King added 16 points and Angela Buckner also notched a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards. King scored 11 of her points in the first half, but the Lady Rebels did a good job on her in the second half.
"We saw where she hadn't been as consistent for them in games," Aldy said, "We were not doing a good job on her in the first half, and we talked at halftime, about putting more pressure on her and getting more effort from our players guarding her."
The Lady Rebels will look to go 11-0 for the first time since the 1988-89 season, when they opened the year 13-0 before losing at Tennessee 68-61. That year they advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.
Ole Miss will face Indiana in the championship game of the Beach Classic. Tip is scheduled for 9:30 PM CT.
