Ole Miss Opens SEC Women’s Hoops Play with Win vs. Arkansas

January 1, 2017

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI/Ole Miss Athletics) — Behind a double-double from senior Shequila Joseph (London, England) with 15 points and a career-best 13 rebounds the Ole Miss women’s basketball team (12-2, 1-0 SEC) picked up its third consecutive win in its SEC opener with a 73-64 win over Arkansas on New Year’s Day. The win was the 11th straight home win for the Rebels and the sixth straight overall win.

Arkansas (11-3, 0-1 SEC) made things interesting in the fourth quarter using a 12-0 run coupled with a 3:03 scoring drought by Ole Miss to cut the lead to under 10 points with 1:44 left, but Ole Miss sealed the win late with a bucket from Joseph and free throws from Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) and Alissa Alston (New Haven, Conn.), earning the win in front of a national television audience.

For the second time this season Ole Miss had two double doubles led by Joseph’s 15 and 13. Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.) added 11 points and 10 rebounds for her team-leading third double-double of the season. Sisk also hit double digit assists for the second time this season with 10 helpers. Shelby Gibson (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) added 12 points of the bench – for her second consecutive game in double figures and sixth of the season.

The third quarter was equally as entertaining as the first half. The Rebels opened the half with a bucket underneath from Taylor Manuel (St. Louis Mo.) followed by a triple from Madinah Muhammad (Chicago, Ill.) before using a 8-0 run over a span of 1:43 to take a 46-35 lead at the third quarter media timeout. The third frame was Gibson’s time to shine. Coming off a career-best 16-point outing against Mississippi Valley, the rookie scored eight points in the third frame to help the home team jump out to a 16-point lead. The Rebels punctuated the third quarter with a triple from Torri Lewis (Olive Branch, Miss.) as time wound down at the end of the quarter.

Gibson completed a three-point play to open the second quarter and the home team rattled off seven unanswered points to pull ahead 19-10 – the largest lead of the first half – at the 7:16 mark, but Arkansas battled back midway through the quarter and a once nine-point lead was whittled to just four points at the media timeout. The teams matched each other bucket for bucket late in the quarter highlighted by six points from Arkansas’ Jailyn Mason, but the home team took a slim 27-26 lead at the break. Joseph was the story of the first half, recording eight points and seven rebounds – almost recording a double-double in the first 20 minutes of action.

After hitting their first two buckets of the game and taking a quick 4-0 lead, the Rebels weathered an Arkansas push with the Rebels ahead 6-5 at the fist media timeout. Joseph tallied six points and four rebounds, scoring nearly half of Ole Miss’ points in the first frame as the Rebels took a 13-8 lead into the second quarter.

From The Head Coach
On the win…
“What a win for us. I’m just proud of our basketball team. We didn’t play our best, but we found a way to get it. Shandricka gets a double-double and how about Shequila Joseph? I challenged her in practice. She hasn’t played her best this year, but she’s been practicing her butt off. At practice, one of the girls said, ‘I want you to do that in the game, Shaq.’ I stopped and said, ‘Shaq knows what time it is. It’s SEC time.’ That’s what seniors are supposed to do—15 points 13 rebounds. Just so proud of them. That’s a good basketball team we just beat. They’re a team that’ll be one of the top seven or eight teams in this league. That’s a win we had to get and we got it.”

On the play of Shelby Gibson…
“She just played her butt off. Shelby Gibson is going to be as good of a post player that’s been here in a long time before it’s all said and done. I don’t want to put pressure on her saying she’ll be the best that’s ever played post here—we have a lot of good ones hanging in the rafters. She’ll be one of the better ones to play in this program.”

On the upcoming road trip…
“You’ve got to protect your house. We’re going on the road for four of our next five, and that’s tough. So we had to get this home win against a good Arkansas team. I couldn’t be more proud of our team. The crowd was in it. I lost my voice. I’m going to enjoy this one, and we’ll get back to work tomorrow to get ready for Alabama.”

Rebel Sidelines
-Ole Miss played on New Years Day for just the second time in school history. The only other occasion was in 2011 against LSU, with both games being played in Oxford. Ole Miss is 1-1 in games played on New Years Day.

-The Rebels move to 3-1 in SEC openers in the Insell era with today’s win and to 9-1 in SEC home openers in the last ten seasons. The win is also the third straight SEC opening win for Ole Miss marking the second time Ole Miss has done that since winning three straight openers in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

-Ole Miss moves to 11-0 at The Pavilion at Ole Miss this season, the longest undefeated home win streak since 2006-07.

-The Rebels have won their last six games and are two wins away from the longest win streak in the Insell era. The current longest record in the Insell era is seven wins in 2014-15.

-Ole Miss has held an opponent to single digits in three of its last eight quarters of basketball

-Ole Miss moves to 11-1 when leading at the break

-Shandricka Sessom scored her 800th point in today’s game and grabbed her 300th rebound. She is now 191 points shy of the 1,000-point milestone.

-Shequila Joseph recorded her second career double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. It’s the fourth double-double for Ole Miss this season and the second time Ole Miss has had multiple double-doubles in the game.

-Erika Sisk tallied her second career game of double figures assists with 10 assists.

Up Next
The Rebels hit the road for a two-game road swing through Alabama. The road trip opens against Alabama on Thursday in Tuscaloosa. Game time is set for 7 pm from Alabama’s Coleman Coliseum.

Next Five Games
Jan. 5 – at Alabama 7 PM
Jan. 8 – at Auburn 3 PM
Jan. 12- vs. Tennessee 6 PM
Jan. 16- at Mississippi State 6 PM
Jan. 19- at South Carolina 6 PM