Thursday evening the Ole Miss Women’s basketball team suffered their first back to back losses of the season against the Missouri State Lady Bears 91-78 at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
The Lady Bears opened play with a quick transition three to go up 3-0. The Rebels responded with a layup by Ericka Sisk, but the Rebels struggled defensively on the perimeter throughout the game.
“We didn’t guard,” Rebel head coach Matt Insell said. “We let them pass from point A to point B, and we let them move the ball to wherever they wanted to move the ball too.”
In the first half Ole Miss gave up 21 points from behind the arc, allowing the Lady Bears to 42 percent from the field, compared to Ole Miss’ 33 percent. Junior Shequila Joseph stepped up big coming off the bench as she added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Leading the way for the Rebels was Sisk who finished with 18 points and Erika Sisk contributed 17 points for the Rebels.
“Shequila Joseph played extremely well, Erika Sisk played real hard and I wish others behind her would pressure the ball and get after it like she is,” Insell said.
Along with the lack of defense, the Rebels only knocked down 29 of 92 shots despite collecting 26 offensive rebounds. Insell said that some of his players were not prepared mentally going into this game.
“I don’t think offense is a problem at all. We get every shot we want to get wide open,” Insell said. “ There comes a time when we have to make lay ups at the rim, there comes a time where in the third quarter when we’re struggling to score our scorers have to step up and knock down a 15 footer (jumpshot).”
Though this was a tough loss at home, Insell said he’s not frustrated because he knows what he’s trying to build here with this young group of players that he has.
“It all starts with defense, we can score anytime on offense, but defensively we need to stop our man and rebound,” Sisk said.
Ole Miss gave up 39 points from behind the arc, allowing the Lady Bears to shoot 50 percent in the second half from the field.
“We have to stop our man,” said Sisk. “As a wing player, myself and my teammates, we have to know we can’t give too much help and leave the shooters wide open.”
The Rebels return to action Sunday at 1pm as they head to Murfreesboro to take on the Middle Tennessee State University.
