The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Cruise to 77-45 Exhibition Win Over DT-3
11/4/2008 | Women's Basketball
OXFORD, Miss. Junior Katorra Lewis recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to help the Ole Miss women's basketball team to a 77-45 victory over DT-3 Tuesday evening at Tad Smith Coliseum.
Fellow newcomer Nikki Byrd nearly added a double-double of her own as she finished the contest with 11 points and nine rebounds. Junior Elizabeth Robertson led all scorers with 13 points, which included a trio of three-pointers.
"Exhibition games give us an opportunity to see where our weaknesses and strengths are," head coach Renee Ladner said. "I'm really glad that we got a game under our belt, but we still have a lot of areas to improve on."
Anitha Smith-Williams led DT-3 with 12 points and four assists, while both Jessi Loring and Lauren Riley-Varley added 10 points apiece.
The Rebels used a suffocating defensive effort throughout the game to limit DT-3 to just 30.9 percent shooting for the contest. In addition, Ole Miss dominated the rebounding game as the Rebels more than doubled the visitors on the boards, finishing with a 64-30 edge in that department.
After leading by double digits for most of the first half, Ole Miss erupted early in the second period to blow the game wide open. DT-3 cut the Rebel deficit to 11 points on a three-pointer by Taryn Towns just under three minutes into action, but Ole Miss responded with a 17-0 run over a span of 5:42 to open up a 28-point lead. The Rebels would go on to lead by as many as 34 points on their way to a convincing win.
"We have rotation and depth at every position, and tonight we could have played a lot of combinations," Ladner said. "I'm just happy to have that many players that can come off and contribute. I thought they played with intensity and courage."
Ole Miss jumped out to a 16-4 lead in the first nine minutes of the game as the Rebels received scoring contributions from seven different players during that time span.In addition to the offense production, the Rebels were also efficient on the defense end, failing to allow DT-3 to reach double digits until the 8:17 mark of the half.
Robertson led the way for Ole Miss in the first half as she poured in eight points, including 2-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc. Junior center Shawn Goff added six points in the opening stanza to go along with four rebounds and three blocked shots.
Ole Miss returns to the court Sunday at 2 p.m. when the Rebels host Christian Brothers University in the second and final exhibition game of the season.
