Tia Faleru took a shot over a Tennessee defender during last night’s game.
Alex Edwards I The Daily Mississippian
It may not look pretty now, but this Ole Miss women’s basketball team is headed in the right direction. Despite the 77-65 loss to the No. 8 Tennessee Lady Vols Thursday night, the Rebels gave Tennessee all they could ask for.
The first half put the Rebels in an early hole, as they only shot 31.4 percent from the field compared to 46.4 percent for the Vols. However, they responded big in the second half, cutting the Vols’ lead to six right before the game got away. The turning point in the game occurred when Tennessee sophomore guard and WNBA Draft prospect Meighan Simmons connected on three consecutive three pointers from the 11:24 mark to the 9:52 mark. The Rebels were unable to recover.
“You never want to lose Simmons,” Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell said. “She’s kind of like a Marshall Henderson here, where she’ll miss five or six in a row, and she’s got the ability to make five or six in a row after that.”
Simmons ended the game with 20 points.
“Those three threes separated us, and we needed that boost tonight,” Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick said. “This game was close. Ole Miss had a lot of energy, but those three threes separated us.”
Tennessee outrebounded Ole Miss 43-34 and made some huge offensive rebounds down the stretch.
“Their size was tough, but you’ve just got to fight through it,” Ole Miss senior forward Tia Faleru said.
Warlick also applauded Ole Miss.
“Those kids play hard,” she said. “They may be 1-9 in the conference, but they played harder than we did. They’ll get it done soon.”
Faleru also improved her great play of late collecting her SEC-leading 12th double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
It was tough to get senior point guard Valencia McFarland going as she shot 4 of 13 from the field. Although, McFarland did have a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists despite the shooting struggles.
“She got in the paint more today than she did against Florida,” Insell said. “Ten points and 10 assists. You can’t ask for much more from her against a tough basketball team.”
One bright spot in the game was that sophomore shooting guard Gracie Frizzell got going early and knocked down four three-pointers to keep Ole Miss in the game. The sophomore improved her shooting going 5 of 9 from the field and scoring 15 points.
Looking ahead to the weekend, the Rebels will travel to Athens to take on Georgia.
“We’ve just got to focus on Georgia. We’ve got to have a short-term memory,” Frizzell said. “We need a win. And we’re going to get one on Sunday.”
For continuing coverage of Ole Miss women’s basketball, follow @browningstubbs and @thedm_sports.
