Ole Miss Unable To Hang On, Falls at Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (Ole Miss Athletics) – Ole Miss women’s basketball traded eight lead changes and trailed by only two at halftime, but a third quarter Arkansas run fueled by the conference’s second-leading scorer, Chelsea Dungee, put the Razorbacks on top, 73-61, at Bud Walton Arena on Sunday.

Both teams shot better than 40 percent from the field in the tug-of-war first half, but foul trouble slowed down the Rebel effort in the back half as Dungee – owner of the SEC’s top scoring output this season at 41 points over Auburn on Feb. 10 – took control. She scored 19 of her 33 points in the second half, and on the day she was 8-of-17 from the field and 12-of-15 from the foul line. Arkansas won the third quarter 22-14 and rode that momentum toward victory.

Ole Miss rebounded the ball well, edging the Razorbacks 36-30 on the glass. That included 15 offensive rebounds and 22 second chance points, but Arkansas (17-11, 6-8 SEC) was able to mitigate that by slowing the Rebel offense down to 32.3 percent shooting in the second half and claiming an advantage on the free throw line, going 20-of-26 from the charity stripe.

Leading the Rebels offensively were seniors Crystal Allen and La’Karis Salter. Allen scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds while Salter scored 11 and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Freshman Mimi Reid put in 10 points and six assists, senior Shandricka Sessom notched nine points and four rebounds and junior Shannon Dozier had eight points and two rebounds.

Even with the loss, Ole Miss has shown great improvement since the start of SEC play. The Rebels have now faced three SEC opponents twice, and fared significantly better in the second meeting each time – including a 65-60 win vs. Vanderbilt on Feb. 14 to avenge a loss to the Commodores in January.

Ole Miss (9-19, 3-11 SEC) now looks ahead to a Thursday night battle at Alabama (12-14, 4-9 SEC) that has seeding implications for the upcoming SEC Tournament. Ole Miss will conclude its regular season Sun., March 3 when it hosts Tennessee (17-10, 6-8 SEC) for Senior Day.