Ole Miss women’s basketball reaches SEC Tourney Semifinals for first time since 1993; Will Face No. 1 South Carolina
Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and her team put up a solid performance Friday, taking down the Florida Gators, 70-60, in SEC Tournament quarterfinal action at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
“I’m grateful for the win,” said Coach Yo after the game. “We have a lot of new faces. I thought there were a lot of good things.”
Preparing to face the nation’s best
The Rebels’ path now includes a familiar foe, as they will face the No.1 seed South Carolina Gamecocks (28-1) today at 4:00 p.m. CT in the semifinals.
This will be the third meeting between both teams. The Rebels lost both times to the nation’s No. 1 Gamecocks, most recently 71-57 in Oxford to close their regular season. In spite of losing both matchups, Ole Miss is not backing down.
Standout post player Shakira Austin talked about facing South Carolina again.
“We are familiar with the scout. We’ve played them twice already,” she said.
“We know what they pretty much want to do, and we also know the reason we lost. So having that quick turnaround and coming into the second game of the tournament with a little bit more energy and effort; I think we know what to do.”
Ole Miss post Shakira Austin
In the last meeting against the Gamecocks, Austin put up 20 points and went 8-of-14.
The Gamecocks may have only lost once all season, but this Rebel team is more than hungry — this is the first semifinal appearance for the Rebels since 1993. The winner of today’s game will advance to the finals and face either the Kentucky Wildcats or the Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday.
Regardless of today’s outcome, the Rebels are putting themselves in a strong position for favorable seeding in NCAA postseason play. This will be Ole Miss’ first NCAA tourney appearance since 2007.
Game Info:
Tipoff from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville will be 4 PM CT on ESPNU.
Are You Ready!
(Feature image credit: Josh McCoy)
Lee Ann Herring-Olvedo
Lee Ann is the Director of Recruiting for The Rebel Walk. She is a veteran SEC sports journalist and NFL content writer. She is also the Sr. Editor for MESPORTS digital. Herring-Olvedo is a Brown University graduate who loves good cigars, good games, and a smooth glass of bourbon — not necessarily in that order.
