RENO, Nev. — Tia Faleru rebounded from a two-point outing against Utah with 18 points and eight rebounds Saturday to lead the Ole Miss women’s basketball team to a 77-66 victory against Nevada in the championship game of the Nugget Classic title.
The win was the first in-season tournament win for Ole Miss since 2011-12 and moved the Rebels to 6-1 on the season.
Faleru’s effort helped her earn a place on the Nugget Classic All-Tournament team. Ole Miss freshman Toree Thompson added 15 points to earn Nugget Classic MVP honors. Gracie Frizzell made three 3-pointers and had 13 points.
Ole Miss forced Nevada into 25 turnovers and scored 21 points off the miscues. Those points helped the Rebels overcome a 38-percent shooting effort from the field (27 of 71).
Leading 67-60 at the final media timeout, Ole Miss used a 10-6 spurt courtesy of buckets from Faleru and Frizzell to extend the lead. Thompson then sealed the game at the line going 4 of 4 in the final 45 seconds.
Ole Miss will play Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. Thursday.
n On Friday, freshman Thompson scored 15 of her career-high 23 points in the second half to lead Ole Miss to a 52-38 victory against Utah.
Trailing, 30-29 with 8 minutes, 44 seconds remaining, Thompson made two free throws. After a Utah turnover, Thompson hit a 3-pointer to give Ole Miss a 34-30 lead that it didn’t relinquish. Utah cut the margin to four with five minutes to go, but Ole Miss closed the game on a flurry to pick up its first victory against a power five conference since defeating Illinois in the third-place game of the Rainbow Wahine tournament in Honolulu in 2009-10.
Kelsey Briggs tied her career high with 12 points. The freshman duo combined for 22 of Ole Miss’ 28 points in the second half. Faleru led the Rebels with nine rebounds.
After a dominating first-half performance that saw Ole Miss hold Utah to 11 points — tied for fifth fewest points by an opponent — the Rebels came out cold to start the second half, and Utah took advantage and used a 11-0 run to open the half to tie the game at 24 at the 13-minute, 56-second mark of the second half.
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