The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Falls To Tennessee In The Elite Eight
3/27/2007 | Women's Basketball
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -To beat Tennessee, Ole Miss needed to play a near perfect game.
Instead, Candace Parker and the Lady Vols did, as they defeated the Rebels to roll into their 17th Final Four 98-62 on Tuesday night.
Armintie Price dazzled for 30 points for seventh-seeded Ole Miss (24-11), which has been within a game of the Final Four five times. Ashley Awkward chipped in with 14 points.
By winning the Dayton Regional, top-seeded Tennessee (32-3) moves on to play either Purdue or North Carolina in the national semifinals in Cleveland on Sunday. LSU (30-7) and Rutgers (26-8) meet in the other game.
Ole Miss, which lost 81-69 in Knoxville when the Southeastern Conference rivals met in the regular season, had hoped to set a frantic pace with its fullcourt pressure and fastbreak offense. But it was the Lady Vols who broke out to an 18-8 lead to take control early.
Price supplied the bulk of the Rebel offense. She scored 15 of their first 20 points before picking up her third foul late in the half.
At one point in the second half, Price had hit 7 of her 12 shots from the field and the rest of the Rebels were 8 for 41.
Through their first three NCAA games, Ole Miss had forced an average of 26 per game, but the Lady Vols said before the game that their top priority would be taking care of the ball. They totaled 15 turnovers - their season average.
Parker scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds. She hit 10 of 14 shots from the field and also had three assists, three steals and five blocked shots.
Sidney Spencer had 16 of her 22 points in the second half. Shannon Bobbitt had 14 points, including 10 of Tennessee's first 24 in the fast start. Alberta Auguste added 12 points.
The Lady Vols shot 52 percent from the field and hit 8-of-11 3-pointers while limiting Ole Miss to just 32 percent shooting from the field. The Rebels were just 3-for-20 behind the arc.
One of the most painful losses ever for Tennessee was a triple-overtime 63-60 defeat to Ole Miss in the round of 16 in 1985. Since that time, the Lady Vols have beaten SEC opponents 11 consecutive times in NCAA play.
Dayton All-Regional Team
Courtney Paris - Oklahoma
Armintie Price - Ole Miss
Ashley Awkward - Ole Miss
Shannon Bobbitt - Tennessee
Most Outstanding Player : Candace Parker- Tennessee
