Lady Rebels Lose Heartbreaker to Baylor

Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Communications

The Ole Miss women’s basketball team traveled to Waco, Texas Wednesday night to take on the ninth ranked Baylor Bears. The Rebels played an amazing game but came up just short, losing to the Bears 87-80.

Going into the game the Lady Rebs were on a seven game winning streak which dated back to November 22 when they defeated Southeastern Louisiana. Tia Faleru and Valencia McFarland  lead the team in scoring this season and both recorded double-doubles against Baylor Wednesday night. Faleru finished the night with a team high 22 points and 10 rebounds. McFarland ended with 17 points, 12 assists and was one rebound away from having a triple double.

Ole Miss came out in the first half on fire and at halftime, the Rebels surprisingly had lead 41-40. Baylor’s 65 home game winning streak was at risk of being broken but guard Odyssey Sims would not let her team be defeated. She led the Bears to victory in the second half and finished with a game-high 39 points.

The loss drops the Rebels to 8-5 on the season and ends their seven game winning streak while Baylor’s record improves to 9-1. Ole Miss has improved tremendously since the beginning of the season when they lost four of their first five games. The players appear to have grasped the high-tempo play that head coach Matt Insell wants them to play at. If they continue to improve and play at the level they did on Wednesday, they could be a tournament team.

The Lady Rebs get a small holiday break this week to go spend time with their families. They don’t play again until December 30 when they take on the Austin Peay Governors.

–Justin Taylor, Associate Editor, HottyToddy.com

–You can email Justin at justin.taylor@hottytoddy.com