Senior Day Ends in Loss as Ole Miss Falls to Texas A&M, 66-58

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss women’s basketball team lost to the Texas A&M Aggies on Senior Day Sunday by a final score of 66-58.

Cotie McMahon was the leading scorer for the Rebels, with 19 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. The rest of the team, McMahon included, struggled mightily from the field, as they shot 32 percent from the field and 33 percent from three. Unforced errors and sloppy play cost Ole Miss their final game of the regular season, ending on a four-game losing streak.

The pageantry of Senior Day wasn’t enough to propel the Rebels, as they just simply could not get going. Conversely, the Aggies took high-quality shots, as they only attempted 46, making 22 of them, while also making eight of their 12 attempted threes.

Ole Miss’ fate is out of their hands for the SEC tournament, as they will now likely be a seven or eight seed and need to run the table and win the whole thing in order to host an NCAA Tournament game. With Sira Thienou still out due to a bone bruise, the impact of her absence is becoming more and more apparent.

Interesting Stat: Ole Miss and Texas A&M made the same number of shots, but the shot amount varied dramatically.

First half highlights

Texas A&M struck first with a three-pointer and a layup. After a layup of the Rebels’ own, Cotie McMahon tied the game early at five with a three-pointer. The Aggies were hot from the field, as everything was falling for them to begin the game. On the other side, the basket seemingly had a lid on it for the Rebels as they couldn’t hit a shot.

Jayla Murray got a small run started for the Ole Miss, as they just needed some points. But Ole Miss went into the second quarter down 10, playing very uncharacteristically for themselves.

The Rebels bounced back and started the second off hot, cutting the lead all the way down to four points thanks to threes from Debreasha Powe, Tianna Thompson, and Kaitlin Peterson. Ole Miss would then go cold again, with the Aggies expanding their lead.

It was starting to look a tad dire for the Rebels, but they fired off a small run towards the end of the half. This was short-lived as they would go cold once again, allowing the Aggies to expand their lead. For how badly the Rebels struggled in the first half, they were only down 37-30 at the break.

Second half highlights

Unfortunately, Ole Miss started the second half cold once again. The Aggies, on the other hand,  continued to take quality shots with easy looks in the paint being their bread and butter. It was a tough quarter for the Rebels as a whole. The Aggies started to struggle to score, themselves, to end the half; however, Ole Miss was completely unable to capitalize, continuing to miss shots.

A few odd fouls for Ole Miss put the Aggies on the free-throw line consistently, allowing them to extend their lead, even while being in a scoring drought. Ole Miss went into the fourth quarter down 53-45. The game looked like it might be heading to another Rebel loss.

But McMahon was dominating to begin the final quarter, and the Rebels looked to cut into the Aggie lead. They did just that, narrowing it to two points with 6:24 left to go in the game. But Ole Miss then started to miss easy shots, with layups under-the-basket not being converted, hampering the Rebels’ hopes of coming out with a win. A three-pointer by the Aggies with 4:30 left to play felt as if it sucked the air out of the arena and Coach Yo’s bunch would ultimately fall, 66-58.

What’s next?

Ole Miss moves on to the SEC Tournament. The date and time of the Rebels’ first game are not yet announced.