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Rebel Basketball Defeats LA Tech 79-68
OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole
Miss women’s basketball team, playing in front of 4,491 fans for the
11th Annual School Kids Game, took a 16-point lead into the halftime
break and didn’t look back as they cruised to a 79-68 win over
Louisiana Tech on Wednesday (Dec. 4) morning.
Ole Miss
(6-4) had four players in double figures and was led by Tia Faleru, who
had a team-high 19 points. Joining her in double-figures were: Valencia
McFarland with 16 points, Diara Moore with 13 and Danielle McCray with
10. McCray led the way for the Rebels on the glass with nine rebounds,
just one shy of her second career double-double.
“Louisiana
Tech has a great team,” said head coach Matt Insell. “Their record
doesn’t show how good of a team they are and they’ve played a lot of
good teams. Really, this was a dominating win for us. We had a
six-minute spell in the second half that we can fix and I take the
blame for that. We’ll get better from this game. That’s five in a row
for us, and we’re at full strength and ready to go.”
Playing
in front of the third largest crowd to see a women’s basketball game at
the Tad Pad, the Rebels didn’t disappoint. The visiting Lady Techsters
scored the first points of the game with a jumper from JaQuan Jackson,
but Faleru tied the game with bucket of her own on the next possession.
With
the game tied at 7-7 the Rebels went on an 11-0 run, sparked by a layup
from Danielle McCray to take an 11-point lead, which they wouldn’t give
up the remainder of the contest.
Shequila Joseph and
Gracie Frizzell both drilled two triples in the first half to help the
Rebels keep their lead in double-digits, as the home team took a
16-point halftime lead en route to its fifth consecutive victory and
fourth straight at home.
Ole Miss dominated in the paint,
scoring 44 points on the inside and also took advantage of Louisiana
Tech giveaways, scoring 22 points off Tech miscues. True to the way
head coach Matt Insell wants to play, Ole Miss took advantage in
transition scoring 20 fast break points in the contest.
Ole
Miss extended its lead to 22 points – the largest of the game – with a
few minutes off the game clock in the second half behind buckets from
Kenyotta Jenkins and Tia Faleru.
LA Tech (1-6) made a late
push, getting the lead down to single digits with a minute remaining,
but the Ole Miss sealed their fifth straight win with a pair from
McFarland at the free throw line.
LA Tech’s Whitney Frazier led all-scorers with 24 points as LA Tech dropped its second consecutive game.
Ole
Miss concludes its two-game homestand on Saturday when it welcomes
Mississippi Valley State for an afternoon matinee. Tipoff is set for
Noon at the Tad Smith Coliseum. For ticket information, go to
OleMissTix.com or call the Ole Miss Ticket Office at 1-888-REB-TKTS
(732-8587).
Rebel Sidelines
Valencia McFarland extends
her scoring streak to 97 consecutive games and her consecutive games
started streak to 87 games … Ole Miss moves to 5-1 on their home floor
this season … Today’s game was the 11th annual School Kids Game, it
started at the 2002-03 season when Carol Ross took over the program …
Diara Moore was in double figures for the second straight game … Tia
Faleru and Valencia McFarland were in double figures for the eighth
time this season … The win was the first in the series against
Louisiana Tech for the Rebels since the 1991-92 season, its snaps a
five game winning streak by Louisiana Tech … Ole Miss’ five-game
winning streak is the most consecutive for the Rebels since the 2010-11
season, when they also won five straight, the last time Ole Miss won
more than five in a row was in 2008-09.
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