The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Fall 92-91 To Rice In Double Overtime
11/16/2006 | Women's Basketball
HOUSTON, Texas Junior Kadie Riverin hit a jumper in the lane with eight seconds in the second overtime period to hand the Ole Miss Rebels their first loss of the season by a 92-91 final score at Autry Court on Friday night. Riverin and the Rice Owls improve to 3-0 on the season, while Ole Miss drops to 2-1.
“We played really hard,” said Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross. “We may not have always played well, but I cannot fault our effort. It was most certainly there. We were down for the majority of the game, but we just never gave up.”
Ole Miss took a two-point lead with 1:42 remaining in the second overtime period on a lay-up by sophomore center Shawn Goff. After trading turnovers and missed shots, Rice’s Tiffany Loggins connected on one-of-two shots from the foul line with 40 seconds left on the clock. Ole Miss tried to run the clock down, but an open shot by junior guard-forward Carla Bartee missed and Rice senior forward Lauren Neaves pulled down the rebounds and passed ahead to Riverin for the game-winning basket.
Ole Miss had a chance to score with senior guard Ashley Awkward bringing the ball up the court on the final possession, but Awkward was stripped on her way up and no foul was called as the final buzzer sounded.
Rice was able to control the game with the inside play of Neaves who led all scorers with 28 points in the game. Neaves was 9-of-12 from the field and 10-of-11 from the foul line and also had 17 rebounds, giving the Rebel a load to handle in the paint. She was especially effective in the first seven minutes of the game, collecting eight points and five rebounds and giving Rice a 17-12 advantage.
Ole Miss countered with freshman guard Alliesha Easley keeping the Rebels in it early. Easley, who finished the game with a career-best 24 points, scored the first seven points of the game for Ole Miss and capped the first period of play with 13 points and three steals. Behind Easley’s offense and six rebounds and six points from Goff, the Rebels were down a bucket at 44-42 at the break.
Easley picked up her fourth steals on the opening possession of the second half and took it in for a lay-up, tying the game at 44. Rice then went on a 8-0 run to open up its first double-digit lead of the game. The Owls would extend their lead their lead to 12 with 11:25 to play in the period on a jumper by Maudess Fulton. Ole Miss quickly cut the lead back down to six off of two free throws by freshman center Daphnee Frieson and buckets by junior guard-forward Carla Bartee and Goff.
The Owls again forged its final double-digit lead on two foul shots by Riverin with 7:51 left on the clock. The Rebels then forced turnovers on three-straight Rice possessions and got baskets from senior forward Jada Mincy and senior guard Armintie Price and two foul shots from Goff to set the tone for the final minutes of play.
Ole Miss forced 33 Rice turnovers in the game off of 18 steals. The Rebels turned the 33 turnovers into 39 points, but were not able to overcome ice cold shooting from the foul line. Despite making 46 trips to the charity stripe, Ole Miss was only able to capitalize on 21 attempts, good for just 45.7 percent. Rice on the other hand made 27-of-34 attempts.
While Easley led Ole Miss in scoring for the first time in her career, Goff posted her second double-double in three games this season with career-bests in both scoring with 18 points and rebounding with 19 boards. Goff also had three steals on the evening.
Awkward and Bartee joined in with double figures, Awkward with 13 points and Bartee with 10. Price finished with nine points, six steals and four assists in the game. Both players tallied seven rebounds, while Awkward had three assists and Bartee had three steals.
In addition to Neaves, Riverin chipped in 18 points,
Ole Miss will return to the friendly confines of Tad Smith Coliseum on Sunday, when they host
