Ole Miss Women Drop Road Contest at Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WCBI/Ole Miss Athletics) – The Ole Miss women’s basketball team (12-3, 1-1 SEC) cut Alabama’s once 18-point fourth quarter lead all the way to five points with less than a minute remaining behind a whopping 16 fourth-quarter points from Chrishae Rowe (Riverside, Calif.), but came up short in a 90-80 road loss to the Crimson Tide.

Down 17 points to start the fourth quarter, Ole Miss turned to junior guard Rowe, who filled up the stat sheet. She scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter as the Rebels chipped away at the lead. Ole Miss got the Alabama (13-2, 1-1 SEC) lead to five points twice in the final 1:30 of the game, but with 25 seconds remaining, the home team closed the game with five unanswered to earn the win.

Madinah Muhammad (Chicago, Ill.) led the team with 20 points while Rowe added 18 points, 16 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.) was also in double figures with 14 points. Shequila Joseph (London, England) led the rebounding efforts with six.

Ole Miss sliced the Crimson Tide lead down to just six at halftime, but Alabama came out of the break with a 6-0 run getting the gap back up to 12 points. With 2:50 left in the third quarter, Ole Miss used a triple at the top of the key from Sessom to get the lead to under 10 points, but Alabama used an 11-2 run to close the quarter and open up a 63-46 lead at the end of the third.

Ole Miss trailed by 15 points early in the second quarter and struggled with fouls with both Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) and Alissa Alston (New Haven, Conn.) saddled with three fouls each by the seven minute mark, but with six minutes remaining, a bucket underneath from Shelby Gibson (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) sparked an 8-0 Ole Miss run which saw the Rebels get themselves right back in the game.

The teams traded buckets over the course of the next several minutes, but Ole Miss used a trey from Torri Lewis (Olive Branch, Miss.) and an old-fashioned three-point play form Muhammad down the stretch to cut a once 15-point lead down to just two possessions and six points at halftime.

Three-point shooting was a factor in the first quarter, as the home team was 5-of-9 from long range while Ole Miss was 2-of-8. Additionally, Ole Miss forced the Tide into 10 turnovers but could only capitalize to the tune of four points.

It was a fast start for both teams. Muhammad and Sessom accounted for nine of Ole Miss’ first 11 points, but Alabama held a 15-11 lead at the first media timeout. Out of the media timeout, Ole Miss forced a 5-second call but the Crimson Tide used triples from Hannah Cook and Meoshanti Knight to spark an 11-2 run to take a 26-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Rebel Sidelines
-Ole Miss has a 34-23 series advantage with today’s loss and remains winless in Tuscaloosa since 2012.

-Ole Miss’ loss is the ninth straight SEC road loss for the Rebels. Ole Miss last won an SEC road game on Feb. 19, 2015 with a win at Auburn.

-Madinah Muhammad was in double figures for the eighth time with 20 points, her fourth 20-point game of the season.

-Shandricka Sessom reached double figures for the fifth consecutive game and the 12th time this season.

-Ole Miss had five players foul out in the contest and for the game a combined six players fouled out.

Up Next
Ole Miss wraps up a two-game road swing through Alabama with a Sunday afternoon matchup at Auburn. The Rebels and Tigers will square off from Auburn Arena at 3 PM on the SEC Network.

Next Five Games
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
Jan. 22-vs. Alabama                                              2 PM