We’ve seen flashes of improvement all season long from the Ole Miss women’s basketball team. After getting off to an early 7-0 lead, it looked like the Rebels might were in position to gain their second Southeastern Conference win of the season.
However, the lead fell apart. The Rebels trailed 33-31 at halftime, but ended up getting outscored 48-29 in the second half to lose 81-60 to the Florida Gators.
“We didn’t do very well offensively. There were a lot of things that went wrong in today’s game,” head coach Matt Insell said. “We didn’t get out in transition. They were sending three back in transition to slow us down. Other teams have done that too and didn’t slow us down, but it worked today.”
The Gators (16-6, 6-3 SEC) stormed off to a 13-1 run early in the second half to take a commanding lead, of which made it impossible for the Rebels (10-13, 1-8 SEC) to recover from. The Gators shot 58.1 percent and made five three-pointers all in the second half.
Ole Miss trailed by 22 at one point and cut the lead the Gator lead to 14. But it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.
One big spark for the Rebels was junior forward Tia Faleru, who recorded her SEC-leading double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds. As a team, the Rebels shot 36.1 percent. Senior guard Diara Moore continued her improved play with 13 points. Turnovers was the ultimate achilles heel for the Rebels, as they turned the ball over 17 times.
“We base everything we do off energy and effort. We didn’t have either the energy or the effort we need to be successful,” Insell said. “That’s why the games we’ve been in, we had high energy and effort. We’ll go back to practice on Tuesday and figure out why we didn’t have that.”
The Rebels return to action this Thursday as they will take on the 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers.
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss women’s basketball, follow @browningstubbs and @thedm_sports.
— Browning Stubbs
bbstubbs@go.olemiss.edu
