The Ole Miss women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of an SEC tournament for the first time in 29 years on Friday, defeating the number 23 Florida Gators, 70-60, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The win propels the Rebels into Saturday's semifinal round where they will face No. 1 ranked South Carolina (28-1). The win improved Ole Miss to 23–7 in the season. Florida dropped to 21-10.
Florida briefly took the lead in the first period when Ziporah Broughton fired a shot from beyond the arc to give the Gators a sharp 3-0 lead. Star Post player Shakira Austin's three straight jumpers put the Rebels 6-3 on the 7:31 mark of the first period. Florida leveled the game 6-6 on a jump shot from Broughton at 6:29, but 11 seconds later Lashonda Monk pulled out a jumper to push Ole Miss 8-6 and Rebel was not behind again. Will go away
Ole Miss head coach Yollet McPhee-McQueen said: "I'm grateful for the win." "We have a lot of new faces. I thought there was a lot of cool stuff."
The Rebels took an 11-point lead twice in the second quarter but were 32-25 at halftime.
Florida, however, will not go away. The Gators pulled one of the Rebels, 40–39, to play in the third period with a 2:22. But a pair of three pointers, a first from Angel Baker followed by a tray from Snooda Collins, helped push the lead back to seven, 48-41 by the end of the period.
The Gators pulled things to within three in the final quarter before Ole Miss stretched things out to a 10-point margin of their victory.
"I think it just says we've got the fight in us," Baker said of the Rebels' ability to halt Florida's run.
It was a career-type game for the Rebels Austin, scoring a game-best 27 points and 13 rebounds in 34 minutes of action. He commanded the paint on the defensive end with six blocked shots.
"I think coming into the SEC tournament, I just had a chip on my shoulder. I know the team did," Austin said. "We still have some new pieces like Koch just mentioned, and I've taken it upon myself to follow suit..."
As his head coach?
McPhee-McQueen said, "I thought Shakira understood what she needed to do to keep the team moving forward, because that's what she needed today."
Broughton gave Florida the momentum with 26 points.
Austin was followed by Baker for Ole Miss, which fell to 15 points. Lashonda Monk added 11 points.
Ole Miss shot 40 percent (24-for-60) from the field, 11 percent (2-for-18) from three-point range and 77 percent (20-for-26) from the free-throw line.
The rebel defense kept the Gators at 33 percent (21-for-63), 37 percent (7-for-19) and 92 percent (11-for-12) off the floor.
What did the victory over Florida do for the rebels?
"I thought it got us back in our groove," McPhee-McQueen said.
Player of the game
this is easy. Shakira Austin played lights out and Florida, playing without a first-team All-SEC selection, had no answers for Kiara Smith. Austin's 27 points came on 10-in-16 shots from the field and 7-in-10 free throws, dominated Glass with a game-high 13 rebounds and filled the gators with six blocked shots. He also did four assists. It was full game for the senior.
Next
Here come the Gamecocks. again. Ole Miss and South Carolina meet on Saturday for the third time this season, with the first two meetings going the way of Gamecock. Tip-off is set for 4 pm. CT from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.