FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Valencia McFarland scored 21 points and hit two late free throws Sunday afternoon to lift the University of Mississippi women”s basketball team to a 69-65 upset of No. 23 Arkansas.
Ole Miss (9-9, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) rallied from an early 14-2 deficit to snap a four-game losing streak.
“I call this team the comeback kids,” Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner said. “We”ve always started from behind. But five of the 10 kids on my roster are freshmen and three haven”t played at all. I”m glad we got this win; it was much-needed.”
Nikki Byrd scored to spark an 11-2 run late in the second half that gave Ole Miss a 63-56 lead. The Razorbacks pulled within 67-65 with 58.8 seconds remaining on Ashley Daniels” layup. Daniels had a chance to tie the game seconds later, but missed an open layup after a steal.
Arkansas (15-4, 3-4 SEC) had another chance to tie, but sophomore center Sarah Watkins missed a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds left. Watkins scored 21 points for the Razorbacks, who dropped back-to-back games for the first time all season.
“It”s a frustrating loss because I felt the win was within our grasps several times throughout the 40 minutes and we let it slip away,” Arkansas coach Tom Collen said. “I thought we had chances but we didn”t take advantage of the chances we had.”
McFarland made two foul shots with 2.7 seconds to go to clinch the win.
Kayla Melson scored 17 points for the Rebels, and Courtney Marbra had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Ole Miss trailed 14-2 to start the game after making one of its first eight shots from the field. The Rebels used an 11-3 run to cut the lead to 17-13 with 10 minutes, 50 seconds to play.
A 3-pointer by McFarland tied the game at 25 with 3:41 left in the half. The Razorbacks pushed their lead to 32-26 with 49 seconds left in the first half before Ole Miss closed the gap to 32-30 at halftime.
Ole Miss tied the game at 48-48 on a fast-break layup by Melson with 11:30 to play. Pa”Sonna Hope game the Rebels their first lead of the game, 50-48, on a jumper with 9:42 remaining.
McFarland put Ole Miss up 58-54 with 5:39 to play. She extended the Rebels” lead to 63-56, with 2:57 to play.
Courtney Marbra recorded her second career double-double with a career-high 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kayla Melson added 17 points for Ole Miss, which will play host No. 19 Kentucky at 8 p.m. Thursday (Fox Sports Net).
“I am elated the kids didn”t give up,” Ladner said. “We asked them to play tough and through runs and stay together, and they did.”
Daniels missed a layup with 22 seconds left and Marbra grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Marbra missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Arkansas got the rebound but threw up an air ball.
Ole Miss turned the ball over on its inbound pass and Arkansas again missed its shot, but with 3.7 seconds left Marbra fouled and put Sarah Watkins on the line with Ole Miss leading 67-65. Watkins missed the first and intentionally missed the second. McFarland grabbed the rebound and hit the clinching free throws.
“That was a disappointing loss,” Collen said. “Ole Miss” guard play was tremendous and they played with a lot of poise and were patient down the stretch.”
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