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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
9-2
VCU
5-6
Ole Miss Tops VCU For Insell's 50th Win
12/17/2016 | Women's Basketball
Boxscore 
| Press Conference | Photo Gallery
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's basketball team ran its record at The Pavilion at Ole Miss to a perfect 8-0 and extended its win streak to three straight with a 77-57 win over VCU on Saturday afternoon.
In just her second game in an Ole Miss uniform, Chrishae Rowe (Riverside, Calif.) led Ole Miss (9-2) with 14 points off the bench, while Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia, Miss.) added 12 points. Oxford native Erika Sisk dished out 10 assists and with eight points and was just a bucket shy of her first double-double of the season.
Leading at the break for the eighth time this season, Ole Miss continued to keep plugging away on the offensive end and held a 48-38 lead at the third quarter media timeout. The Rebels held a balanced scorecard throughout with nine players with four or more points and 10 players finding their way into the scorebook. After just two points in the first half, Sessom started to heat up late in the third quarter with seven points in the third quarter en route to her eighth game in double figures.
Ole Miss went to its bread and butter on the defensive end in the second quarter and forced the Rams into several quick turnovers, but VCU got the lead to six points before a bucket from Rowe coupled with baskets from Taylor Manuel (St. Louis, Mo.) and Sisk forced the lead back up to 26-18 at the 6:00 mark.
With the Ole Miss lead at 29-21 at the second quarter media timeout, the home team rattled off 10 points to take a 39-30 lead at halftime.
Ole Miss started the game with back-to-back triples from Shequila Joseph (London, England) and Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) and held VCU scoreless for the first two minutes while racing ahead to an 11-4 lead. The Rams started to settle in forced Ole Miss into several uncharacteristic turnovers forcing Insell to call a timeout at the 5:31 mark. VCU cut the lead to four points, but Torri Lewis (Olive Branch, Miss) nailed a triple which seemed to ignite the Rebels as they forced back-to-back VCU turnovers and Lewis added another triple just before the end of the quarter as Ole Miss took a19-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
From The Head Coach
On the win...
"This was a big week for us. You play an Oregon team in a big emotional game on Wednesday night and then you come right back in here on Saturday and play another good team out of a good conference. They were picked second, they played a real tough schedule, they're going to win a lot of games--and we got a win. I couldn't be more proud of the team and how they work. They just come out and go about their business."
On playing without Madinah Muhammad...
"Madinah Muhammad had a little foot injury this morning, so we held her out, but we played with out our leading scorer and won by 20. What more can you ask for? I'm real proud of our team. We're one of the better teams out there. I've been saying that, and people are starting to see that. This team is pretty good."
On the strong start to the season...
"We have a real good team. It's taken us a while to build this roster. We said it from day one: We're going to build a roster that can win at a high level, and it's going to take time to do that. Credit to our administration fro giving us that time. A lot of time in college athletics, they don't give you time but our administration believes in what we're doing. We had some rough patches in those first three years, but we have a great staff and we battled through and now in Year 4, we have a team that can play with anybody in the country, and we showed that this week."
Rebel Sidelines
-Today's game was the first meeting between Ole Miss and VCU and was the second straight game for the Rebels against a first-time opponent. Ole Miss faced three first time opponents this season in High Point, Oregon and VCU and owns a 3-0 record against those teams.
-Erika Sisk becomes the first player since Valencia McFarland in 2014 to record double-digit assists.
-Head Coach Matt Insell picked up his 50th career win in today's contest.
-Ole Miss moves to 8-0 at The Pavilion at Ole Miss this season. This is the best start to the home slate since the Rebels went 11-0 to open the home schedule in 2006-07.
-Torri Lewis started her second game of the season. Ole Miss moves to 2-0 with Lewis in the lineup.
-Shelby Gibson extended her 3-PT field goal streak to four straight games.
-Ole Miss moves to 7-0 when they score at least 70 points this season.
Up Next
Ole Miss is back on the hardwood on Tuesday (Dec. 20) when Austin Peay makes the trip to Oxford. Tipoff is set for 6 pm at The Pavilion.
Next Five Games
Dec. 20 - vs. Austin Peay 6 PM
Dec. 28 - vs. Mississippi Valley State 6 PM
Jan. 1 - vs. Arkansas 4 PM
Jan. 5 - at Alabama 7 PM
Jan. 8 - at Auburn 3 PM
Keep Up With the Rebels
Keep up to date with the Ole Miss women's basketball team throughout the season on social media. For all Ole Miss women's basketball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com, and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWBB, Facebook at Ole Miss WBB on Instagram at Ole MissWBB and on Snapchat with the handle @OleMissWBB. Fans can also follow Ole Miss women's basketball head coach Matt Insell on Twitter at @minsell.
