No. 15 Ole Miss nearly handed No. 2 Texas its first loss of the season, but came up just short falling 67-64.
The Longhorns built a 13-point lead with just over eight minutes to go and seemed poised to easily extend their home win streak to 35 games.
However, the Rebels would outscore Texas in the final eight minutes of play 20-12. Cotie McMahon scored 10 of her game-high 19 points and Latasha Lattimore had eight of her 17 points scored during that stretch.
McMahon scored her 19th point on a driving layup with 75 seconds left in the game and would get the rebound off the Longhorns’ next miss. Christeen Iwuala would be fouled after the rebound, sending her to the charity stripe.
Iwuala made both of her free throws, cutting the deficit to just three points. Texas would miss a jump shot with 10 seconds left that McMahon also recovered. She was immediately fouled, avoiding a chance at her making a three-point play.
McMahon missed both free throws, but was helped out by Rori Harmon missing two free throws for the Longhorns and Iwuala’s rebound to give the Rebels one more chance.
With less than a second on the clock, McMahon was the obvious choice to take the shot and she did, but it was off target.
The Rebels kept most of the same players on the court for the game. Four Rebels had 30 or more minutes played in Sunday’s game. As a team, Ole Miss shot 45.1 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle, 30-29.
However, Texas forced 16 Ole Miss turnovers and ended up scoring 20 points off of those turnovers, which was a big reason why the Rebels needed the late comeback.
Ole Miss Top Performers
- Cotie McMahon: 19 points (7-17), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
- Latasha Lattimore: 17 points (5-8), 6-6 FT, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal
- Sira Thienou: 14 points (6-9), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
- Christeen Iwuala: 6 points (2-3), 6 rebounds
Texas Top Performers
- Jordan Lee: 17 points (6-12), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal
- Madison Booker: 15 points (5-15), 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal
- Rori Harmon: 8 points (3-7), 3 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals
Next Up
Ole Miss (14-3) will have a few days to recover and prepare for its next SEC game against Oklahoma. The Rebels will again be on the road to face the Sooners on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on SECN+.
