The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Eliminated From WNIT With Loss At USF
3/26/2009 | Women's Basketball
TAMPA, Fla. Shawn Goff became the first player in school history to tally 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 200 blocked shots over a career, but it wasn't enough to lift the Rebels into the WNIT fourth round as Ole Miss fell 74-57 to USF Thursday night from the Sun Dome.
Goff scored 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds in her final game at Ole Miss.
Bianca Thomas scored 15 points for the Rebels, while Elizabeth Robertson added 11. Kayla Melson finished with a game-high eight assists to go along with five rebounds.
Ole Miss (18-15) led by two points at halftime, but USF opened the second half on a 16-4 run to take a 54-44 lead five minutes into the stanza.
The Rebels scored the next five points to climb within five points with just over 13 minutes remaining, but Ole Miss missed its next five shots before USF pushed its lead back to eight points on and old fashioned three-point play from Porche Grant.
Goff helped trim the USF lead back to six points with a layup at the 8:51 mark, but the Rebels went cold from that point on and didn't score another basket until Goff converted another layup with just over four minutes to play.
USF (24-10) scored on the ensuing possession and held Ole Miss scoreless for the final 4:23 on its way to a 17-point victory.
Shantia Grace led the way for the Bulls with 18 points and seven assists. Ole Miss held Grace to just five points in the first half, but the All-Big East first team performer scored 13 in the second stanza.
Janae Stokes finished with 13 points after hitting her first five shots of the game, but Ole Miss limited her to zero points in the second half as she missed her final seven shots from the field.
Grant finished with the only double-double of the game after claiming 10 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
The Rebels opened the game hot and sprinted out to a 14-4 lead just over five minutes into the contest. Ole Miss got two three-pointers from Robertson and one trey from Thomas during the stretch to help the Rebels shoot an even 50 percent from down town in the first half.
USF answered with a 7-0 run to crawl within three points with seven minutes gone by, but Ole Miss was able to respond and regain an eight-point lead midway through the half on a three-pointer from Thomas.
The lead didn't last long, however, as USF used a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the game at the 7:23 mark. The Bulls would go on to lead by as many as nine points before surrendering the lead with less two minutes on the clock.
The Rebels used a 12-0 run of their own capped by a layup from Melson to take a three-point lead with a minute to play, but Jazmine Sepulveda quickly tied the game with a three-pointer on the other end. Goff gave Ole Miss the lead at the half with a layup just before the buzzer.
