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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
11-3, 1-0SEC
Arkansas
10-3, 0-1SEC
Rebels Defeat Arkansas 71-57 in SEC Opener
1/2/2015 | Women's Basketball
OXFORD, Miss. - Behind big games from sophomore guard Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) and senior forward Tia Faleru (Ozark, Ala.), the Ole Miss women's basketball team picked up a 71-57 win over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams on Friday at Tad Smith Coliseum.
"We came out here and executed defensively and offensively, and we found a way to get a big win here to start 1-0 in league play," head coach Matt Insell said. "This is a huge win. You have to protect your house. There are 50-50 games in this league, that can go either way, and this was one of those games that could have went other way, and you have to win those games when they're like that. We did that tonight. I'm really proud of our basketball team.
Sisk led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Faleru picked up her third consecutive double-double, her fifth of the season and the 25th of her career, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior forward Danielle McCray (West Palm Beach, Fla.) also joined them in double figures with 11 points.
"This was my first SEC game as an Ole Miss Rebel," Sisk said. "It feels good. Coach always talked about how it's a new game, a new season, with new teams. It's not like the non-conference. We clicked tonight, we worked together, and we did what we were supposed to do."
Ole Miss (11-3, 1-0 SEC) shot 50 percent (24-of-48) from the floor, the highest field-goal percentage for an Arkansas (10-3, 0-1 SEC) opponent this season. The Rebels also turned 17 Razorback turnovers into 28 points off turnovers.
"The key offensively was staying patient," Insell said. "We're developing offensively. We're about five games into a new offense. It looks good at times, and we get stagnant at times, but when we had to execute, we were patient."
Defensively, Ole Miss held Arkansas to 35 percent (18-of-52) shooting and limited sophomore guard Kelsey Brooks, the SEC's leading scorer, to a season-low nine points on 2-of-9 shooting.
"We have two players out there in A'Queen Hayes and Erika Sisk, and when they're motivated and they get up and down, I don't know if there are two better defensive players on the ball in the league," Insell said. "Those two kids took it as a challenge that Kelsey Brooks was the leading scorer in this league."
Ole Miss held Arkansas to 29 percent shooting in the first half, including a 7:49 scoring drought midway through the first half that allowed the Rebels to turn a 15-9 deficit into a 22-15 lead, a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
The Razorbacks got as close as three, down 22-19 with 4:31 left in the half, before sophomore forward Shequila Joseph (London, England) and senior guard Amber Singletary (Baltimore, Md.) hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions in the final minute of the half to push the Rebels' lead to 33-25 going into halftime.
Two more 3-pointers to open the second half, from freshman guard A'Queen Hayes (Horn Lake, Miss.) and freshman Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.), extended the lead out to 39-25 with 17:40 left. Ole Miss led by double digits for much of the half, leading by as many as 19, before Arkansas used a late 13-3 run to cut the Rebels' lead to 63-54 with 1:59 left in the game.
Coming off its first win in an SEC opener since 2010-11, Ole Miss will hit the road for its next two games, traveling to No. 11 Kentucky on Sunday for a nationally-televised game on the SEC Network and then heading to Florida on Thursday in a game televised by Fox Sports Net.
"I'm excited about getting on that plane tomorrow with our basketball team and going up there because we have a chance to play a top-10 team on the road in their house," Insell said. "We're 1-0 in the SEC, and this was a huge game. You have to get off to a right start, and we have done that. We'll worry about Kentucky tomorrow, but we have to bring it on Sunday up there."
REBEL SIDELINES
Ole Miss opened Southeastern Conference play at home for the second straight season and the fourth time in five seasons… Ole Miss won an SEC opener for the first time since the 2010-11 season… The 14-point margin of victory is the largest since the 2009-10 season… Ole Miss has now won five straight games, its longest winning streak since winning seven straight last season… Ole Miss has now won back-to-back games against Arkansas, having defeated the Razorbacks 63-62 in the first round of the SEC Tournament last season… Ole Miss is now 8-0 when scoring 70 or more points this season… Erika Sisk scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games… Sisk's 19 points were the second-most in her Ole Miss career, having scored 20 against Middle Tennessee State earlier this season… Tia Faleru scored in double figures for the fifth straight game… Danielle McCray scored in double figures for the fourth time this season… Ole Miss did not allow a fast-break point for the third time this season… Little Rock, Arkansas, native Gracie Frizzell started the 13-0 first-half run for the Rebels with a 3-pointer at the 12:02 mark… Ole Miss is now three wins away from its 400th women's basketball win at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
