Ruby DraayerAfter a much-anticipated matchup, the women’s basketball team fell to No. 1 South Carolina on Thursday night, 40-69.
This was the first match that the Rebels have played since they received a Top-25 AP Poll ranking. It was the first time in 15 years that the women’s basketball team was able to get over that barrier.
While beating the No. 1 team in the country is very rare, the bar was high for the Rebels due to their undefeated road game record this season.
So far this season, Ole Miss has been known for their knock-out defensive performances, and while they didn’t show their usual dominance, it was still a strong showing for Ole Miss. Their shining moments from the game came when the Rebels held the Gamecocks on a three-minute scoring drought to attempt to keep the score close.
Shakira Austin led the Rebels with 15 points but went 5-for-18 on the field goal range. She has been a crucial force offensively, and she kept Ole Miss in the game.
The Rebels as a whole shot 50% from the three-point range, while the Gamecocks shot only 12.5%t. The area that Ole Miss struggled greatly is surprisingly on the field goal range. They were shooting an abysmal 27.6% compared to South Carolina’s 40.7%.
Madison Scott led the way defensively for the Rebels with three blocks, eight points and four steals.
Ole Miss was unable to score more than 11 points in a quarter, creating a deficit that made coming back a seemingly impossible task.
There were a lot of expectations and hype leading up to this game for Ole Miss, and unfortunately, they were not lived up to.
“I just thought we got our ass kicked for 40 minutes,” Head Coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin said.
Coach Yo did not mince words in her post-game press conference on the way that her team played, and also attributed a lot of success that the Gamecocks had to their fan base.
“I do think the atmosphere totally shell-shocked some of our players. That was something I wondered how we would respond…that’s called home court advantage,” Coach Yo said.
Almost 14,000 Gamecocks fans were in attendance, eagerly wanting to silence the noise that Ole Miss was bringing to this game. In a sport that doesn’t typically generate massive support, South Carolina changes the narrative. They regularly bring out sold-out crowds, and this game proved that their environment got the best of the red-hot Rebels.
A bright spot of the game was Shakira Austin reaching double-figure points for the 14th time this season, and despite the loss was able to show everyone why her name keeps climbing higher on the WNBA draft boards.
Ole Miss will look to bounce back on Sunday against No. 15 Georgia, their third straight ranked opponent.
“We have a lot of tape and a lot of film to be able to watch to look and see where we fell short and then respond at home on Sunday,” Coach Yo said.
