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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
11-3 0-2
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Mississippi St
10-4 1-2
Mississippi State Tops Lady Rebels, 60-55
1/11/2001 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. -
Mississippi State's LaToya Thomas scored 31 points on 10-of-17 from the floor and 11-of-15 from the free throw line to lead the No. 21 Lady Bulldogs past Ole Miss 60-55 Thursday at Tad Smith Coliseum. Ole Miss dropped to 11-3 overall and 0-2 in the SEC, while Mississippi State improved to 10-4 and 1-2 in conference play.
"We tried to challenge our players to control LaToya (Thomas), but we weren't successful," said Ole Miss head coach Ron Aldy. "We were good at times, but for the most part we did not do a good job. LaToya knows how to get to the foul line like most All-Americans."
"It was a win, but it wasn't a pretty win," said Mississippi State head coach Sharon Fanning. "We are a young team learning to play together. My main goal for the team is to make them play hard and play with chemistry."
The Lady Rebels jumped out to a 15-8 lead at the 10:44 mark of the first half, then the Lady Bulldogs went on a 9-1 to take their first lead at 17-16 with 6:52 left in the half. The Lady Rebels then scored five straight points to tie the game at 21-21 at the 4:04 mark. Mississippi State used a 7-1 run to take a 28-22 halftime lead.
Mississippi State took their largest lead of the game at the 18:01 mark of the second half, 30-22. Ole Miss tied the game up at 30-30 with 14:43 left in the second half on a couple of baskets by Stephanie Murphy and Tywanna Inmon.
The Lady Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to take a 12 point lead with 12:52 remaining in the game, but Ole Miss would tie it up again at 48-48 with 4:14 remaining. Mississippi State outscored the Lady Rebels 12-7 in the last 4:14 of the game for the final margin.
Inmon, a freshman from West Memphis, Ark., led Ole Miss with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting on the night. Becky Myatt and TaShondrea Moton scored seven points apiece for the Lady Rebels. State's Jennifer Fambrough added 15 points in the win.
Ole Miss shot 46 percent from the field, while Mississippi State shot 41 percent for the game. The Lady Rebels went 7-of-15 from the charity stripe for 46.7 percent, while the Lady Bulldogs shot 17-of-27 for 63.0 percent.
"We had been doing much better this year than last year in free throw shooting," Aldy said. "However, there were many situations in the game that could have changed the outcome."
Ole Miss takes a break from conference play to host Belmont Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 7:00 p.m., before going on the road to face Alabama Thursday, Jan. 18.
