Ole Miss Women Drop Pavilion Opener To Florida

OXFORD, Miss. (Ole Miss Athletics) – Making their debut in The Pavilion at Ole Miss, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team (9-7, 1-2 SEC) suffered a 85-65 setback to Florida on Sunday afternoon. Freshman Alissa Alston (New Haven, Conn.) led the offense with a career-high 17 points while Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) and Madinah Muhammad (Chicago, Ill.) each added 15 while Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia) added 10 rebounds.

Ole Miss opened the game on a 6-0 run and scored the first women’s basketball bucket in The Pavilion courtesy of a triple from Madinah Muhammad (Chicago, Ill.) The visitors begin to settle in and from that point it was a back-and-forth affair with the game staying within two possessions for the majority of the first quarter before Florida used a 10-1 run sparked by a triple from Carlie Needles to take a 21-10 lead with 2:25 left in the first period of action.

After a nearly four minute scoring drought that saw Florida run its lead to 16 points, Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) knocked down a triple at the end of the quarter to gain a little momentum entering the second quarter of action, but Ole Miss wouldn’t get closer than 11 points for the remainder of the contest.

The Rebels shot a season-low 28.2 percent on 28-of-80 shooting from the field and were held to just 44 rebounds. Ole Miss struggled to score in the paint as the Gators held a 54-18 advantage. Ole Miss did force Florida into 28 turnovers and scored 21 points off the visitor’s miscues, but couldn’t overcome Florida’s 60.6 percent (20-of-33) shooting in the first quarter as they dropped their second straight contest.

From The Head Coach
On the loss to Florida…
“I’d like to thank the fans for their support today and being here showing support for our basketball team today. I wish we would have shown a little more effort than we did, because we didn’t have much in the first half and that’s frustrating. We’ll bounce back and get better from this. There comes a point when you have to just be tougher and step up and make some shots. We went 9-of-23 from the free throw line, in the third quarter alone we missed ten layups, eight of which were uncontested. Those are tough plays that you just have to make.”
On the struggles…

“I told them as bad as we played, with the amount of effort we played with, if you hit eight of those ten layups instead of missing them you have 16 more points. Then you keep moving forward. The free throw percentage was horrific. Alissa Alston played very well for us today, but went 4-of-11 from the free throw line. Friday and Saturday at practice I don’t she missed one, but it is what it is and that’s who we are right now. We just have to grow from it.”

On tough competition coming up…
“We have to get better, because it doesn’t get any easier. That’s part of it and that’s how this league is. I’m watching A&M and they’re one of the top-15 teams in the country and losing on the road right now. That’s the way it is in this league right now, I guess there’s something in the water but we need to figure it out.”

On Alston and Muhammad’s career games…
“They both played hard and wanted to play well. They got after it and earned what they got. Alissa (Alston) came in there because she’s really practiced well, she’s just getting better and better. She cares about playing the game, does she make mistakes yes, but she’s growing. We played the whole second half with basically four freshmen on the court and won it by three, but it doesn’t matter because we lost the game. There are others who are not producing and I can’t put them in.

On the mood in the locker room…
“Erika Sisk expressed some feelings and said some things in the locker room after the game and that’s really good. That kid continues to play really hard. Did she do everything right today? No. But she played her butt off and that’s what we asked her to do.”

Rebel Sidelines
-The all-time series between Ole Miss and Florida moves to 20-15 in favor of the Gators and the win by the Florida moves them to 12-5 in games played in Oxford.
-Todays’ game was the first Ole Miss women’s basketball game in The Pavilion at Ole Miss. Madinah Muhammad scored the first women’s basketball bucket on the three-pointer.
-Alissa Alston and Madinah Muhammad each had a career-highs in points. Alston (17 pts) and Muhammad (15 pts).
-Shandricka Sessom picked up her third career game of double-figure rebounds with a team-best 10 boards.
-The Rebels changed their starting lineup for today’s contest with Alissa Alston and Madinah Muhammad getting the nod. This is the fourth lineup for the Rebels this season. Alston and Muhammad have both started before

Up Next
The Rebels will hit the road for their next two games as they head to Texas A&M to take on the Aggies on Thursday. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. and the game will air on the SEC Network+. Fans can also listen to Graham Doty and Armintie Herrington on 105.1/105.5 locally and on OleMissSports.com