.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
15-11, 5-8SEC
Auburn
9-17, 0-13SEC
Ole Miss Earns 51-46 Road Win at Auburn
2/19/2015 | Women's Basketball
AUBURN, Ala. -- Holding a slim 43-39 lead with 3:42 left in the contest the Ole Miss women's basketball team went to work on the defensive end and with clutch buckets from A'Queen Hayes (Horn Lake, Miss.) and Tia Faleru (Ozark, Ala.), the Rebels held on for a 51-46 road win at Auburn - snapping a seven-game winless streak and guaranteeing the Rebels a winning record in the regular season and the possibility of a postseason berth - the first since 2009-10.
With the game on the line and tied at 43, Ole Miss scored seven unanswered points to pull ahead by six points - a lead they wouldn't give up down the stretch despite Auburn cutting the lead to three with a late triple.
Faleru started the second half right where she ended the first, scoring Ole Miss' first six points as the Rebels extended their lead to 17 points - the largest of the game. The Rebels couldn't' quite maintain their hot shooting from the first half, shooting just 26.1 percent (6-of-23) in the second half and going without a bucket for nearly 10 minutes forcing head coach Matt Insell to call a timeout at the 10:36 mark.
Auburn cut the Ole Miss lead to four points behind nine unanswered points while the Rebels were held without a bucket for nearly nine minutes before a bucket from Danielle McCray (West Palm Beach, Fla.) ended the drought with just over 4:35 left to play.
Ole Miss jumped out to early 7-4 lead highlighted by an early triple from Gracie Frizzell (Little Rock, Ark.) and extended its lead to 19-14 at the 11:11 mark of the half, courtesy of 8-of-16 shooting from the field. Hayes had a great start to the game, with seven first-half points and although Faleru didn't have points early, she worked the boards with eight rebounds and was rewarded with foul shots going 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.
The visitors pushed their lead well into double-digits with 11 straight points from Faleru, including two old-fashioned three-point plays. Ole Miss' defense was stellar as they forced the home team into 11 miscues and capitalized to the tune of 10 points in the first stanza. Auburn scored several buckets late to cut into the Ole Miss lead, but the Rebels took a 35-23 lead into halftime.
Ole Miss is back in the friendly confines of Tad Smith Coliseum on Monday night when they host No. 11/10 Kentucky in the seventh annual "Tickled Pink at the Tad Pad" game. Tipoff is set for 6 pm and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
REBEL SIDELINES: Tia Faleru, who hails from Ozark, Ala., had a lot of fans in attendance wearing "Team Faleru" shirts ... This is the second straight game the Rebels have faced a team with a Tiger mascot, Ole Miss' last outing was at Missouri, which also has a Tiger as a mascot ... Ole Miss picks up it second road win of the season and have posted two road wins for the first time since 2009-10 ... Tia Faleru picked up her 800th rebound at the 9:55 mark of, she is one of seven players with 1,000 points, 800 rebounds and 150 steals... Ole Miss is guaranteed a winning regular season record with tonight's win, which will be the first since 2009-10.
