The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Upset No. 12 LSU 80-71
1/17/2010 | Women's Basketball
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Ole Miss' Bianca Thomas, despite leading the SEC in scoring at 21.7 points per game, felt she had been snubbed and ignored all season.
That all changed on Sunday. Thomas poured in 42 points, including 23 of her club's final 28 points and set a new Tad Smith Coliseum record for points scored, as Ole Miss upset No. 12 LSU 80-71.
"I'm aware that nobody has paid much attention to me or our team," said Thomas, who finished 13-of-26 from the field and added eight rebounds and two steals. ""It's been my motivation and in the second half, I was feeling it. I was in the zone."
Thomas scored 28 in the second half and dominated the final 12 minutes of play for the Rebels (12-5, 3-1), who enhanced their NCAA Tournament resume. Elizabeth Robertson added 14 points for Ole Miss, who shot 26-of-51 from the field and led 42-35 at halftime.
"Bianca Thomas was on a mission today," Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner said. "I think she's been disrespected by the league in terms of honors and attention. I know this much. I'm glad she's on my team."
LSU (13-3, 2-2) dropped consecutive games for the first time since November, 2008. Leading scorer Allison Hightower finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but was limited by foul trouble and was not a major factor in the outcome.
"Hightower gets a lot of attention and deserves it, but I'm aware that I'm not mentioned," Thomas said. "It feels very, very good personally and we also want to be in the NCAA Tournament and we took care of our business today."
LaSondra Barrett scored 30 points and added 10 rebounds for the Lady Tigers, who finished 28-of-63, 44 percent, from the field. LSU strugged from three-point range, managing only 3-of-14, 21 percent.
LSU scrambled within 62-60 on a three-point play by Courtney Jones with 8:21 remaining. Ole Miss answered with a 7-0 run, including five points by Thomas, and the Lady Tigers never got closer than seven points again.
"(Coach) Renee (Ladner) had a good plan and Bianca Thomas made that plan look awfully good," said LSU coach Van Chancellor, who coached Ole Miss to 439 wins and 15 NCAA Tournament appearances from 1978-97.
Ladner, who played point guard for Chancellor during his Ole Miss career, admitted any win involving her former coach is bittersweet.
"I didn't want to go into this game and make it bigger than any other game. I can like Coach Chancellor for 364 days in a year," Ladner said. "But today, I could not."
Thomas confirmed that her club's focus was limited to the Lady Tigers, not Chancellor. ""It feels very good to beat a ranked team. That's where our minds were today and it was very satisfying personally."
