Ole Miss women win SEC Tournament opener
Published 5:27 pm Wednesday, February 28, 2018
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Madinah Muhammad scored 14 points Wednesday as 14th-seeded Ole Miss snapped a 13-game losing streak by defeating 11th-seeded Florida 48-43 in the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tournament.
Ole Miss (12-18) hadn’t won since a 78-75 double-overtime triumph over Florida on Jan. 7. The Rebels next play Thursday against No. 14 Missouri, this tournament’s sixth seed.
Ole Miss won an SEC Tournament game for the first time since 2014.
“It feels good. These kids have battled all year long. We’ve had a lot of adversity hit us. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong for us,” Ole Miss coach Matt Insell said.
The Rebels trailed 16-11 early in the second quarter before pulling ahead for good with a 21-3 spurt that lasted into the second half. Florida (11-19) had no baskets and just three points for a stretch of 8 minutes, 24 seconds.
Ole Miss won despite shooting just 27.8 percent (15-of-54). Florida had 20 turnovers and shot 28 percent (14-of-50). The turnovers led to 20 points for Ole Miss.
Haley Lorenzen scored 14 points for Florida. Paulina Hersler had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Funda Nakkasoglu also had 11 points.
“We blew a 14-point lead to them at Florida and (Nakkasoglu) was the one that killed us,” Insell said. “I challenged (Alissa) Alston to take it personal. I showed her every clip on the bus ride up here on how she scored on her.”
Ole Miss’ Shelby Gibson had 10 points in just 16 minutes before fouling out.