Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Dominates Tennessee at Home, 94-81

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss women’s basketball team defeated the Tennessee Volunteers 94-81 in dominant fashion Tuesday night at the SJB Pavilion.

Final from Oxford.
What a performance from the Lady Rebels. Cotie McMahon had 39 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists. What a night for her. Lattimore tacked on 14 points and 12 rebounds. Iwuala had 16 points five rebounds. Tianna Thompson added 12 points off the bench. A team… pic.twitter.com/IgMl8r5Pmh

— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) February 18, 2026

The Rebels’ Cotie McMahon was dominant in this game, scoring 39 points, adding 10 rebounds and five assists. McMahon played a majority of the game, logging 37 minutes. Latasha Lattimore notched another double-double, with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Christeen Iwuala finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and two assists. And unsung hero Tianna Thompson, who stepped in for an injured Sira Thienou, recorded 12 points.

It was an all-around team performance for Ole Miss. As a team, they shot 51 percent from the field. They tallied 16 assists and 41 rebounds. Even while being in a tough stretch of games, as there is little to no break between them, the Rebels looked refreshed and were playing with a sense of urgency, with hopes of hosting in March still alive.

Lattimore shined defensively, as she was a big deterrent in the paint anytime she was in the game. The story remains the same for Ole Miss: the Rebels go as McMahon goes. She had an outstanding game, and so did the rest of the team.

Could it be anybody else? A career night for Cotie McMahon makes her tonight’s Rebel Walk Player of The Game!

She reached 2,000 career points scored tonight, as well as a career high in a single game with 39 points. She shot 12-22 from the field. She also tallied up 10… pic.twitter.com/eZRBomQhon

— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) February 18, 2026

Interesting Stat of the Game: Ole Miss did not trail for a single second.

First-Half Highlights

The first quarter belonged to the Rebels. Thienou got the game started with a basket, giving the Rebels a lead. Tennessee struck back with a three to cut the Ole Miss lead to one. The Rebels got to the charity stripe early, giving them an advantage.

The beginning of the first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams scoring early and often. The game quickly shifted heavily in the Rebels’ favor, as they were clearly the better team throughout the first. This was even more apparent with the fact that every single starter scored at least once in the first quarter, alone.

With McMahon reaching a career mark of 2,000 points in the first quarter, the Rebels headed into the second with an 18-12 lead.

The lead stayed the same for a bit, as both teams were going bucket-for-bucket in the painted area. There was little-to-no structure in terms of plays for Ole Miss, as they played by feel and still scored at the same level effectiveness as they had been.

Tennessee fouled early on in the second, giving the Rebels more chances at the line. This allowed them to grow their lead. Iwuala, Lattimore, and McMahon were all dominant, and Ole Miss went into half with a 44-33 lead.

Second-Half Highlights

Ole Miss got to the line early, making their lead about as stable as it could possibly be. The Rebels started to foul a lot, as they had seven fouls in the third quarter alone.

It looked as if the momentum started to shift just a little bit into Tennessee’s favor, but that was short-lived, as the interior defense from Lattimore really put the Volunteers on their back foot. Ole Miss made their first three of the game in the third quarter.

The refs were calling a lot of fouls, some of which were iffy sort of plays, and the game started to get more physical.

Thienou went down with a knee injury, and wasn’t seen for the rest of the game. After the contest, Coach Yo indicated Thienou could have gone back in, according to what the Ole Miss trainer told her.

McMahon continued to dominate and the lead was too much for Tennessee to come back from, but the starters for Ole Miss stayed in. This was to really put the game out of hand and secure their victory.

The game ended with Ole Miss on top, securing a 13-point victory, winning 94-81.

Who’s Next?

The Rebels don’t get a break, as they host the LSU Tigers on February 19 at 8 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN.