Ole Miss is currently tied for second place in the conference behind South Carolina’s lead, LSU, and Tennessee.
Ole Miss did what hasn’t often been done on Sunday afternoon, as a crowd of 3,863 fans watched on. The Rebels defeated the Tennessee Lady Vols, 80-75, to surge into a tie for second-place in the SEC standings. The Rebels improved to 15-5 overall and to 5-2 in the conference, standing even with Tennessee and LSU behind frontrunner South Carolina in the conference standings. Tennessee dropped to 12-7 overall.
The game was a back and forth, topsy-turvy affair that wasn’t decided until the final seconds when Kennedy Todd-Williams executed a razzle-dazzle layup to increase the Rebels’ lead to two possessions with the 80-75 lead.
The Rebels then created a Tennessee turnover using their trademark defense and players began pumping their fists in the air in celebration.
It was the first Ole Miss victory over the Lady Vols since 2017 and only the third win in the last 30 years against Tennessee.
“When the buzzer sounded, I got super emotional, just because now there are only two (SEC) teams that I haven’t beat,” said Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin with a smile spreading across her face. “I have so much love for Pat Summit’s legacy. Pat Summit was the first female coach that I was able to witness. My dad coached me, but he’s a dude. I had never seen a woman coach until I saw Pat Summit…I love Pat Summit.”
Tied 39-39 at the half, Ole Miss opened the third period on a 6-0 run thanks to a basket from Todd-Williams and a pair of buckets from Marqueesha Davis. The Rebels never trailed again in a game that featured nine lead changes and five ties with both teams’ biggest leads being seven points.
“I just talked to them about not being afraid to do this,” McPhee-McCuin said if her halftime talk. “I had to explain to them that you look scared but I know you’re not afraid of Tennessee, you’re just afraid to fail.”
It was Davis who led Ole Miss with 25 points and four rebounds, followed by Kharyssa Richardson with 21 points. Madison Scott is back to her usual double-double effort after turning loose of the point guard experiment, finishing with 15 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Todd-Williams was the only other Rebel with double-digits in the scoring column, adding 12 points.
Tennessee was paced by Jewel Spear’s game-high 30 points and 15 from Rickea Jackson.
It was easily Richardson’s top game of the season.
“Yesterday, I had a one-on-one with her before practice. I just talked to her about being the future face of this program…I said just let me coach you, because you are super talented…I’m really proud of her,” said McPhee-McCuin.
The Rebels begin a two-game road swing with a trip to the Music City to face off against Vanderbilt on Thursday (Feb. 1). Tip from Memorial Gymnasium is set for 6:30 p.m.
Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin opened her press conference with an explanation regarding her outburst about the Oxford and Ole Miss community’s support of women’s athletics following the Rebels’ win over Florida last week.
“I’m just really grateful for everybody that showed up,” McPhee-McCuin said. “If you missed my message (to the fans) after the game, one thing I said was that I really need to make myself clear y’all. I’m an immigrant. I migrated from the Bahamas. I recently just got my citizenship three years ago. While some of you have homes in different places in America, Oxford is home to me. I pay taxes here. I go to church here. I give back here. I’m in the community here, so as far as I am concerned, I am a citizen of this community. My platform is big and it is powerful. When I spoke about our community, I meant our community, because I’m a part of it. Every single day I’m at soccer practice and people in the community can tell you that. They know me, and they see me.
“It was a call to action, because I know how special this place is. But I’m also the one that promotes this university, as well. And I can’t promote it without the help of everybody. When everyone is like, ‘Oh, win the national championship,’ well, help me help you. Crowds like this on a consistent basis, we’ll continue to win.”
“I’ve been very fortunate everywhere I’ve been,” she said. “Most schools that I’ve coached at have been pretty committed to women’s basketball. I think I could always feel that. I know when you don’t it’s tough.”
