Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Defeats Michigan, 60-49, to Win the Battle for Atlantis
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — The No. 23 Ole Miss women’s basketball team defeated the Michigan Wolverines 60-49 on Monday win the Battle for Atlantis Championship.
Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin met with the media after the win.
“First of all, Coach (Kim Barnes Arico) is such a great coach.,” McPhee-McCuin said.
“I have such great respect for her. I knew they would be incredibly disciplined. They wanted to play inside out. We had to make a decision where we wanted to dictate their offense.“
Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin after the win
Ole Miss (5-1, 0-0 SEC) was led in scoring by Marija Avlijas with 11 points while teammate Madison Scott added 10 points.
Avlijas came into the game in the second quarter after point guard KK Deans went down with an injury.
“”I don’t know much yet. KK is tough, so as long as she can walk, she tried to go back in….we’re going to hope for the best,” McPhee-McCuin said.
Scott was named Tournament MVP, and throughout the tournament she played lights out with two double-doubles. Scott was asked if she thought she showed up and showed out for her team.
MVP MVP MVP 🗣️
Madi has been chosen as the Most Valuable Player for the Battle4Atlantis tournament!
41 Points
32 Rebounds pic.twitter.com/NJXFSZjmgZ— Ole Miss Women’s BB (@OleMissWBB) November 20, 2023
“Yes, definitely, I can say that now. That makes me happy to say that,” Scott said.
McPhee-McCuin was asked about Scott’s performance and being named tournament MVP.
“Maddie makes me proud. Maddie believed in me, her and Snudda (Collins), before anybody else did as far as recruits were concerned. They came to us…and never wavered. Maddie was the first McDonald’s All-American in program history, men or women. We have a special bond… we are proud of her and I don’t think y’all have seen her best ball yet.“
Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin on Madison Scott
Scott added that the team is seeing their hard work pay off.
“We’ll celebrate today. Enjoy the beautiful Bahamas and then go back home and get to work,” Scott said.
Ole Miss held Michigan to shoot 24 percent from the field in the game.
The Rebels bench scored 27 of Ole Miss’ 60 points on the day. Coach Yo talked about her bench play.
“Tremendous. I tell our team all the time. We can’t win a championship 1-5. But we can win a championship 1-15. I have players who come off the bench who can start…“
Michigan was led by Laila Phelia with 21 points.
The Wolverines’ head coach Arico discussed facing Ole Miss after the game.
“They’re a great team. “They’re a physical team. Their pressure affected us early,” Arico said.
McPhee-McCuin added that the Rebels looked forward to coming down to the Bahamas to face the competition of the field.
“We wanted to come play in this tournament. A lot of people shy away from competition to protect rankings or reputations…I wanted to come to a tournament like this to play quality opponents.”
Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin
The Ole Miss Rebels return to action on Saturday as they play host to the Little Rock Trojans. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and can be seen on SEC Network +.
Adam Brown
Adam Brown joins The Rebel Walk as the Managing Editor after being on the Ole Miss beat as a Sports Editor for over 11 years. He is a lifelong Oxford resident. Brown graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Prior to The Rebel Walk, Brown was the sports editor of HottyToddy.com covering every Ole Miss sport and local high school sports in the community.
