In a day that belonged to the seniors, the quartet of Bretta Hart (Poplarville, Miss.), Shequila Joseph (London, England), Taylor Manuel (St. Louis, Mo.) and Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) combined for 32 of Ole Miss’ 62 points to lead the Rebels to their first win over Texas A&M in the last five tries.
Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.) – the newest member of the 1,000 point club – led the team in scoring with 13 points for her fourth straight game in double figures while adding a team-best seven rebounds. Joseph and Manuel were also in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Joseph also added seven boards.
The Rebels kept their third quarter momentum and pulled ahead 42-36 on a crucial triple from Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.) forcing Texas A&M to call a timeout. Shequila Joseph (London, England) got in on the three-pointer action with one at the 7:35 mark, to put Ole Miss up nine points, 45-36, with 7:02 remaining. Sessom scored her 1,000-point at the 5:19 mark of the half to give Ole Miss’ its largest lead 49-36 just prior to the final media timeout.
Ole Miss wouldn’t relinquish its double digit lead the remainder of the contest and held the Aggies to their lowest point total against an SEC foe en route to its 17th win of the season and a 15-3 record at The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
The Aggies opened the third quarter and scored four quick points to take a 24-23 lead, their first lead since the 8:00 mark of the first quarter. With the Aggies leading by five points, 28-23, Ole Miss used a 5-0 spurt sparked by a triple from Alissa Alston (New Haven, Conn.) and a layup from Sisk to tie the game just before the third quarter media timeout and from that point the teams matched each other bucket-for-bucket before a trey from Sisk – her 13th of the season – put the lead back with the Rebels, 37-32 heading into the final quarter.
Anriel Howard snapped a nearly three minute scoring drought with a free throw at the 7:02 mark of the second quarter but Ole Miss’ defense proved to be troublesome for the Aggies who had nine first half turnovers leading to nine points for the Rebels. The Aggies were able to cur into Ole Miss’ once 10-point lead with five points early in the second quarter but Ole Miss was still ahead 21-14 at the second quarter media timeout and took a 23-20 lead into halftime.
Ole Miss opened the game strong with two triples from Joseph – two of Ole Miss’ three triples in the first five minutes of play – as the Rebels took an 11-7 lead at the first media timeout. Neither team was lighting up the nets in the first quarter, but Ole Miss pulled ahead 15-9 thanks to a 6-0 run while holding the Aggies scoreless for a span of 2:19 while taking a 19-9 lead into the second frame.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
