OXFORD — Matt Insell said the Ole Miss women’s basketball team wasn’t in a “must-win” situation against No. 25 Oregon
But the Rebels played with the defensive intensity and the scoring balance of a team that didn’t resemble a team picked to finish last in the Southeastern Conference preseason poll Wednesday night.
Paced by a season-high 22 points from Taylor Manuel, Ole Miss earned an impressive 83-67 victory before a crowd of 1,079 at The Pavilion at Ole Miss. Madinah Muhammad added 18 points for Ole Miss (8-2), which earned a resume-building victory Insell hopes will help the program build momentum for the final three non-conference games prior to the start of SEC play in January.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our basketball team, how hard they played, the work they put in to get to this point,” Insell said. “We have been right on the verge of getting some big wins, and I have told a lot of people I think we have a good team, and I think we showed that tonight.”
Ruthy Hebard led Oregon (8-2) with 22 points, which was one point shy of her career high. Mallory McGwire added a career-high 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while Justine Hall had 10 points. Oregon matched a season-high with 23 assists and shot 45.3 percent from the field.
But Ole Miss’ quickness and depth on the perimeter proved to be the difference. Manuel and Muhammad were the only players in double figures, but seven others scored. Senior point guard Erika Sisk had eight points, seven assists, and three steals, junior guard Shandricka Sessom had eight points and six rebounds, freshman center Shelby Gibson had eight points, and senior forward Bretta Hart had eight points, nine rebounds, and a season-high three blocked shots.
“We walked into an ambush tonight,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “Ole Miss played well. Their coaches had them ready. We, obviously, did not play well right from the start. They kind of knocked us in the mouth, so to speak, and we didn’t respond, and played on our heels all night.”
Graves said freshman Sabrina Ionescu, the team’s leading scorer (14.3 points per game) entering the game, had only two points in a season-low seven minutes (five in the first quarter) due to a hand injury. He said after the game he shouldn’t have played Ionescu, the USA Today High School Player of the Year coming out of Miramonte High in California, but she convinced him to let her try to play.
Oregon also committed 14 of its 17 turnovers in the first half against an aggressive defense that pressured ballhandlers and was up in the passing lanes.
Graves said the Ducks showed their youth and might have been tired in their second game in three days on the road. Oregon beat Clemson 87-59 on Monday thanks to a triple-double by Ionescu (23 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists). It was the second triple-double of the season for the 5-foot-10 guard.
Still, Graves praised Ole Miss for its intensity and its defense. He said the Ducks didn’t handle the Rebels’ defensive pressure as well as they handled the pressure they faced in a 75-63 loss to then-No. 7 Mississippi State on Nov. 25 in its first game at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii. The Ducks shot 44.2 percent from the field and had 16 turnovers in that game. MSU shot 51.9 percent from the field.
“We had to keep them defensively in front of us,” Graves said. “We couldn’t let them get to the rim, and they did that at will, really. The other (key to the game) was we had to take care of the ball. We could not have live-ball turnovers.”
Graves highlighted a stretch in the second quarter that proved his point. With Ole Miss leading 28-24, Sisk and Manuel had steals that led to layups. Sessom added a 3-pointer off an assist from Sisk that kicked the advantage to 11. Oregon never offered a serious challenge after that.
“They played well,” Graves said. “They shot it well from the perimeter, and I thought (Manuel) set the tone inside. I thought she did a great job. She was tough, and they carved out some extra rebounds from time to time.”
Redshirt junior guard Chrishae Rowe also had six points in 11 minutes in her first action of the season. The transfer from Kentucky via Oregon, who was a member of the Pacific-12 Conference All-Freshman team in 2014, figures to add another perimeter threat to complement Sessom and Muhammad. All of those pieces were on display in an effort that featured 19 assists and a lot of unselfish play. Insell playing together will be a key for the Rebels because he feels the team has a lot of depth and skill to improve on a 10-win season in 2015-16.
“How about that effort” said Insell, whose team earned its seventh-straight home win, which is its best start to a home campaign in his four seasons as coach. It matches the 7-0 start in 2012-13. “We dominated from start to finish. Just so proud of our girls and the work they put in. It’s so deserving of them. Our kids work hard. I told a group of people yesterday — they’re tired of losing. They’re ready to win.”
Leading by 14 points entering the third quarter, Manuel hit a three-point play to spark a 10-3 spurt in the first three minutes that gave the Rebels a 21-point lead, their largest of the game.
Manuel, a 6-4 transfer from Loyola Chicago, was 9 of 14 from the field and had three assists. She used her soft touch around the basket to carve up the Ducks.
“Every now and then you have to send those knees in for an oil change,” Insell said. “We sent them in for an oil change this week and she came out with a lot of energy. She played well. I’m proud of her. She’s a good kid and she works hard. She wants to be very good at the game, and she loves playing this game. I’m proud to see her have success. She deserves it. She’s had a rocky go at it at her other schools. I’m proud of her.”
Oregon entered the game sixth in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (59.2 points per game). Ole Miss eclipsed MSU’s scoring output against Oregon with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the game. Insell hopes Ole Miss will be able to build on the victory at 1 p.m. Saturday when it plays host to VCU.
“VCU is another top-100 RPI team,” Insell said. “That’ll be a big one. We’ll have to go back to work and watch some film and get ready to get another one.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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