Toree Thompson shoots the ball during Friday’s game. DM Photo | Jason Zhang
The Rebels ran away with a 111-41 exhibition victory over Christian Brothers Friday night.
The team was led by freshman Toree Thompson, playing in her first collegiate game, scoring 25 points and dishing out nine assists.
Assisting Thompson in the backcourt was sophomore transfer Erika Sisk, who scored 13 points, and returning post player Tia Faleru, who had 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Rebels.
A theme of the night for Matt Insell’s squad was their defense. They consistently used full court pressure throughout the whole game that equated to 24 turnovers and limited Christian Brothers to 30 percent shooting.
“Coming out and taking control of the game from the tip; that’s what we have to do with our pressure defense,” Insell said. “We look more like we want to look defensively there tonight.”
Like Insell said, he wanted to take control of the game from the start, and that’s what he did. Christian Brothers never threatened, and, by halftime, the lead was at 51-25.
By the time fans started to show up for the men’s game later that night, the game was well out of reach to the point that the Lady Rebels outscored Christian Brothers in the second half 60-18.
“Really excited to come out and obviously play really good. As you can see, we have a really young basketball team,” Insell said. “As I just told them after the game, we have a long, long way to go before we have to get where we have to get to, but this is a good step for us.”
The game was in hand early on, which allowed Insell to play everybody, including six newcomers that included five freshmen.
“I didn’t know what to expect. I know we have some really, really talented players. I didn’t know how they would react in their first college game,” Insell said. “We broke film down. We had scouting reports. We went through things in practice. I was very pleased with the carry over they had.”
Freshmen Kelsey Briggs, Shandricka Sessom, A’Queen Hayes and Sarah Porter all heavily contributed to the win. Briggs scored 12 points, all coming from beyond the arc, where she was 4-of-7. Sessom had seven points and pulled in five rebounds. Hayes tallied six points and dished out four assists. Porter also chipped in seven points.
Insell’s up-tempo pace gave way for his Rebels to shoot three pointers, where they shot an outstanding 66 percent (14-21) from behind the arc.
To go along with her already fabulous night, Thompson did most of her damage from there, going 5-for-5 behind the arc.
“It was great. I just came out relaxed and played my game, and I couldn’t of done it without my teammates,” Thompson said when asked about how it felt to be on the court for the first time.
“The way Toree played tonight was not a surprise to me. I’ve watched her play for a year and a half,” Insell said. “She’s a very, very talented player. The success she had is very deserving.
Matt Insell and the Ole Miss Rebels will open their regular season at 11 a.m. Friday against Grambling State in the Tad Pad.
