The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Mike White's All-Stars (Ex.)
Lady Rebels Drop Exhibition To Premier Players 80-78
11/12/2003 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 12, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - Freshman Armintie Price turned in a breakout performance for Ole Miss on Wednesday night, recording a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as Ole Miss fell to Mike White's Premier Players 80-78.
Price, who opened and closed the scoring for Ole Miss, paced four Lady Rebels in double digits on the night. Junior Amber Watts scored 16 points to go along with 13 points from senior Tywanna Inmon, while junior Amber Terrell chipped in 11 points on the night.
"I asked the team for effort and I thought they gave effort," Ross said of the game. "We can take this and move with it. Obviously, we have very little time to make some corrections, but at the same time everything that did not look good is something that can be fixed.
"I don't think (Price's play) surprised anyone in the program because she practices that way everyday," Ross said. "A lot of people talk about how athletic she is, but athleticism is nothing if you don't have great effort. She brings great effort to the court every day."
The Premier Players jumped out to a quick lead, scoring five straight points, before Ole Miss would get on the board with a pair of free throws from Price. The two teams battled back and forth, ending the half knotted at 32.
The see-saw battle continued in the second half as the Premier Players broke the stalemate with a three-point basket from Tonya Washington. Ole Miss answered quickly, regaining the lead off a lay-up by Watts and an ensuing fastbreak lay-up by Price off a steal.
The teams swapped leads several times with neither squad gaining control of the game for most of the second half. Ole Miss never led by more than two points, while the Premier Players would never gain a lead more than six before the final three-point basket from Price.
Ole Miss cut the lead to 75-73 on a made basket from Terrell, but India Lewis answered with a three-pointer with 1:18 in the game to push the Premier Players back out by five. The Lady Rebels cut the lead back to three with a lay-up from Inmon. The Lady Rebels got the ball back on a turnover with 21 seconds left, but a Carletta Brown three-point attempt to tie the game from rattled out with four seconds left. The Lady Rebels immediately fouled.
Washington made both free throws to extend the visitors' lead to 80-75. The Lady Rebels inbound the ball and Price brought the ball down the floor before pulling up to hit a trey at the buzzer to close the scoring for Ole Miss for the final of 80-78.
Washington led the Premier Players, and all scorers, on the night with 22 points, while Kym Hope notched 18 points and McCain added 15 points. Hope recorded the only other double-double on the night, pulling down 10 rebounds for the Premier Players.
Ole Miss, despite starting out shooting 1-of-16 from the field, shot 39.5 percent from the field. The Lady Rebels connected on 14-of-19 from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Premier Players 53-39.
The Lady Rebels will return to action on Friday when Ole Miss hosts the Jackson State Lady Tigers in the first round of the Preseason WNIT. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Tad Smith Coliseum.
