Basketball
Rebels Cruise Past Texas Southern in Last Non-Conference Game
Ole Miss’ Shelby Gibson, shown here towering over an opponent in Thursday’s Texas Southern game, led the Rebels’ scoring effort with a career-high 20 points. Photo by Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics
The Ole Miss women’s basketball team got back on the winning track on Thursday against the Texas Southern Lady Tigers as they cruised to a 73-58 victory in the Pavilion.
Ole Miss (10-3) had three different players score in double-digit points. Shelby Gibson led the Rebels with a career-high 20 points and 6 rebounds. Her teammate, Alissa Alston, followed right on her heels with 17 points in the game, and Muhammad Madinah posted 10 points and 4 assists.
“This is a good win for us,” Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell said. “Texas Southern is another team that was in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.”
Madinah played 40 minutes in the game against TSU.
Madinah Muhammad charges down the court. Photo by Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics
The Rebels jumped out to an early 28-12 advantage in the first quarter and never looked back. Texas Southern was able to cut into the Ole Miss lead in the second quarter as they found the basket for 19 points, only allowing the Rebs to take a 45-31 score into the locker room at the break.
The Lady Tigers played behind the stellar performance of Joyce Kennerson with 24 points and 7 assists.
“(Kennerson) made some shots, but she went 7-of-20 from the field, and we’ll take that,” Insell said.
Shelby Gibson shouts encouragement to her teammates. Photo by Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics
Ole Miss’ defense held the Lady Tigers to shoot only 38.2 percent from the floor on the day, while the Rebels lit up the scoreboard, shooting 45 percent in the game. Ole Miss made it to the charity stripe for 17 attempts and netted 13. Texas Southern managed to hang in the game from the line, hitting 8 of 12 attempts.
“We did not shoot the ball particularly well,” Insell noted, adding that he expects a better performance from his leading scorers in future games. “But we executed a lot better offensively, and we were a lot better defensively, which is something that we harped on for the last two days of practice.”
The Rebels open up conference play on Sunday as they travel to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | W, 63-51 |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | W, 73-66 |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | W, 77-65 |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | W, 74-64 |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | L, 81-84 |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | L, 62-63 |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | L, 83-75 |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | W, 72-69 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | L, 92-82 |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | W, 98-84 |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |