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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
6-3
Central Michigan
4-5
Rebels Let Win Slip Away Against Central Michigan
12/14/2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Leading by as many as 14 during the game, the Ole Miss women's basketball team fell to Central Michigan 78-75 in overtime Wednesday afternoon marking the team's first home loss of the year.
Ole Miss fell to 6-3 with the loss while Central Michigan improved to 4-5.
The Chippewa's cut Ole Miss' lead to one, 60-59, with under a minute to play before Valencia McFarland hit a jumper with 40 seconds remaining. Central Michigan tied the game with 17 seconds to play before McFarland hit a pair of free throws with 17.5 seconds remaining to go up two, 64-62. Central Michigan hit a jumper with 5.2 seconds left to tie the game and sent it to overtime.
In overtime, Central Michigan took its first lead of the game, 69-68, with 3:12 to play and did not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game.
McFarland tied her career high with 24 points while Nikki Byrd recorded her sixth double-double in the last seven games with 17 points and 14 assists. Central Michigan outrebounded Ole Miss 61-44.
"This game hurts," head coach Renee Ladner said. "We had missed opportunities, missed chip shots and got hurt big on the boards. Everybody had a little hand in that one but you win as a team and you lose as a team."
Byrd, who was playing in her 100th career game, kept her streak of scoring in double-figures alive and pushed the streak to 10 games dating back to last season.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 9-0 lead and pushed its lead to 10 on a three-pointer from Maggie McFerrin with 7:56 to play in the half.
The Rebels extended their lead to 14 with 55 seconds left in the half before the Chippewa's cut the lead to 10, 35-25, at the half.
Byrd led the team at the half with 13 points and six rebounds. As a team, Ole Miss shot 38.9 percent from the floor (14-36).
In the second half, Central Michigan used an 8-1 run to cut Ole Miss' lead to three, 43-40, with 11:30 to play. Ole Miss pushed its lead back to double-digits with a three from McFarland as the Rebels led 56-42 with 6:39 to play.
Ole Miss will play at Lipscomb on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
