Kentucky Shoots Down Rebels 69-61

OXFORD, Miss. Sarah Elliott had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Kentucky (16-9, 5-5) made 63.6 percent of their shots in the second half to rally the Wildcats to a 69-61 win over Ole Miss (18-7, 7-3) on Thursday night at Tad Smith Coliseum. UK made 14-of-22 second half baskets and out-rebounded the Rebels by 20 in the second frame to collect the win.

“We gave up too many wide-open looks in the second half,” said Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross. “We also were not good with our box outs and allowed Kentucky to just manhandle us on the glass in the second half. It was just a very poor effort on both the defensive end of the floor and the glass and Kentucky took advantage of that like good teams do.”

Ole Miss had the upper hand early as senior guard Armintie Price took the opening tip in for a lay-up and helped the Rebels race out to a 24-8 lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the opening period. The Rebels then went cold as Kentucky began to heat up and the Wildcats closed the half on a 15-3 run to close to win four at the break.

Elliott got a bucket to quickly cut the lead to two points to open the second half. A jumper by Ashley Awkward pushed it back out to four for the Rebels before Samantha Mahoney cashed in a three-point basket to cut the lead to one-point, the closest the Cats had been since the opening tip-off.

Price hit one of two free throws before a Mahoney lay-up knotted the score at 30 a piece. Ole Miss freshman guard Alliesha Easley and UK’s Chante Bowman traded baskets and then an Awkward jumper and two foul shots by Danetra Forrest gave the Rebels a 36-33 lead. Three-straight Kentucky free throws and a lay-up by Carly Ormerod gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 38-36 with 12:10 remaining in the game. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

The Wildcats did not stop their as Elliott and Mahoney combined for six points to give UK a 44-38 advantage. Ole Miss cut the lead back down to two points on an old fashioned three-point play by Easley. The Rebels trailed 44-46 with 6:09 left in the game, but Ole Miss got just one point on three-straight possessions and the lead grew back to five on another lay-up by Ormerod.

Price made a lay-up and freshman guard Shantell Black hit one of two free throws to cut the deficit back to a bucket, but Kentucky then reeled off nine-straight points to gain its largest lead of the game at 11 points with 1:47 left to play.

Ole Miss never gave-up with Awkward hitting back-to-back threes and junior guard-forward Carla Bartee netting a basket and two free throws, but it would not be enough as the Jenny Pfeiffer hit all eight of her free throw attempts in the closing moments to give UK the final margin of 69-61.

Awkward led all scorers with 22 points in the losing effort. She also had three assists and three steals. Price finished with her 54^th career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with six assists and two thefts. Easley tallied 11 points, while sophomore center Shawn Goff had a career best six steals and four blocks.

Mahoney and Ormerod joined Elliott in double digits for the Wildcats with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Jennifer Humphrey led all players with 16 rebounds, but also had eight of UK’s 25 turnovers.

The Rebels finished the game shooting just 36.5 percent from the field, while Kentucky made 47.9 percent for the game. The Rebels also made just 11-of-20 foul shots, compared to 18-of-25 for the Wildcats.

Ole Miss will return to Tad Smith Coliseum for a match-up with Alabama on Sunday afternoon. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related News

Related Videos