OXFORD — Freshman Kelsey Briggs scored a career-high 19 points Wednesday night to lead the Ole Miss women’s basketball team to an 80-70 victory against Tennessee-Martin in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
With the win, Ole Miss (18-13) will advance to face the winner of tonight’s game between Elon-Georgia Tech game. The time and the date of the second-round game will be determined.
Briggs helped the reserves score 37 points and enabled Ole Miss, which is 2-0 in WNIT games at Tad Smith Coliseum, to earn its first postseason win since 2008-09.
Erika Sisk added 16 points, while first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection Tia Faleru had 12. Shequila Joseph had a team-high seven rebounds. Ole Miss shot 55.8 (29 of 52) percent from the field and reached the 50-percent mark for the second time this season.
Ole Miss used 3-pointers from Sisk and Briggs to extend its lead to a game-high 23 points with 14 minutes, 50 seconds to play.
The Skyhawks cut the lead to seven at the 11:26 mark by scoring 18 points in four minutes, but the Rebels clamped down on defense and were aided by timely buckets from Gracie Frizzell and A’Queen Hayes.
The teams traded baskets for the majority of the first half, but Ole Miss used a 9-0 run, sparked by contributions from its bench. Kiara Golden made a 3-pointer, while Briggs and Shandricka Sessom combined for six points to help Ole Miss take a 27-20 lead. The Rebels kept the Skyhawks out of rhythm and forced them into 14 turnovers to build a 39-27 halftime lead.
Ole Miss shot 54.2 percent (13 of 24) in the first half and had five 3-pointers. Joseph and Golden each had two, while Briggs had one. The Ole Miss bench had 25 of the team’s 39 points in the first half. Golden led Ole Miss scorers with eight points.
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