OXFORD — Erika Sisk had a team-best 18 points, while teammate Shequila Joseph had a career-high 10 rebounds, but the Ole Miss women’s basketball team lost to Missouri State 91-78 on Thursday night at Tad Smith Coliseum.
Joseph and freshmen Cecilia Muhate Pena and Madinah Muhammad had
baskets for Ole Miss (1-2) in an 18-2 run in the final 4 minutes, 18 seconds to close the game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a large late-game deficit.
Ole Miss shot 29 of 92 from the field (31.5 percent), while the Lady Bears shot at a 46.2 percent and hit 13 3-pointers, which was three shy of the Tad Smith Coliseum record.
“I saw a very inexperienced and immature basketball team playing against a team that wanted it more than them,” Ole Miss coach Matt Insell said. “There comes a time in a game where you have to come up with loose balls and come up with rebounds. In the first half (Missouri State) made six threes on second-chance effort shots. We were down at the half by 10 and those plays have to stop. We shoot the ball 92 times, that’s a staggering number. We just need to make shots at the rim.”
Ole Miss’ defense forced Missouri State into 14 miscues that it turned into 10 points, but the visitors capitalized on 20 second-chance points.
“We’ve worked two days at denying the ball, but we still let them pass the ball easily from point A to point B,” Insell said. “We worked two days non-stop denying the ball, and still let them get in a rhythm and make threes all night long.
“When you let a team like that do things like that, you’re going to get beat. Plain and simple, that’s what happened. The other team wanted it more than us tonight. We have to figure out why other teams want it more than us. On the bright side, we had Shequila Joseph respond and play well. Erika Sisk played hard as well.”
n In related news, Ole Miss’ signing class of Shelby Gibson, Breanna Glover, and Kaitlyn Rogers is ranked 16th nationally by Blue Star Report and is the No. 2 class in the SEC.
“As a staff we are working hard every day to move our program forward and I cannot be happier about this class because we not only got talented basketball players but we got players that are very motivated to win championships and do it right here at Ole Miss,” Insell said. “These three understand how special Ole Miss is and they are highly motivated to help our program return to the top of the SEC. I believe they will do special things throughout their careers at Ole Miss.”
n Southern Mississippi will play at No. 24 Chattanooga in Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament: At Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Southern Miss women’s basketball team will play No. 24 Chattanooga at 5:30 p.m. today in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Southern Miss (1-1) is coming off a 97-42 loss at No. 5 Baylor on Monday night.
Chattanooga (2-1) is coming off a 54-43 loss to Indiana on Tuesday night.
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