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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
3-1
SEMO
0-4
Ole Miss Wins At SEMO, 51-43
11/21/2011 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2011
Cape Girardeau, Mo . - The Ole Miss women's basketball team beat Southeast Missouri State 51-43 Monday night, behind Nikki Byrd's second consecutive double-double.
With the win Ole Miss improved to 3-1 while Southeast Missouri State fell to 0-4. Ole Miss improved to 3-1 overall for the third consecutive season.
Byrd recorded her second double-double of the year and seventh of her career with 14 points and 13 rebounds. She is the first Rebel to record back-to-back double doubles since Bianca Thomas in November of 2009.
Valencia McFarland finished with 13 points, all in the second half, while Kenyotta Jenkins scored eight. As a team, Ole Miss led its second consecutive team to under 50 points. The Rebels shot 35.7 percent (20-56) from the floor.
"It feels good to get a win," assistant coach Armintie Price Herrington said. "We have a lot to improve on but the team did whatever it took tonight to get the job done. We did a good job of keeping the lead. As for Nikki, she knows this is her last year and she wants to take this team to the NCAA Tournament."
Ole Miss started out with a 10-0 lead with Byrd scoring eight of the team's first 10 points. The Rebels held the Redhawks without a field goal until the 12:25 mark of the first half.
Ole Miss pushed its lead to 13, 18-5, with 10:19 remaining in the half before SEMO went on an 8-0 run to cut the Rebels' lead to five, 18-13, with 4:52 left in the half.
At the half, Ole Miss lead SEMO, 20-16. Byrd led the Rebels with 12 points and nine boards while Valencia McFarland has six steals and two assists.
As a team, Ole Miss shot 32.3 percent from the floor (10-30) while SEMO shot 23.8 percent (5-21). The Rebels did not attempt a free throw in the first half while the Redhawks went 6-7 from the free throw line.
In the second half, Ole Miss used a 10-0 run to take a 12-point lead, 36-24, on a basket from Pa'Sonna Hope with 11:51 left in the game.
The Redhawks cut the Rebels' lead to single digits, before a three from McFarland put Ole Miss up 11, 43-32, with 4:29 left in the game.
Ole Miss will play at UMass on Saturday at Noon.
