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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Mississippi College (Ex.)
Rebels notch 66-35 exhibition victory against Mississippi College
11/2/2017 | Women's Basketball
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OXFORD, Miss. -- Three Rebels hit double-digit scoring as Ole Miss opened the 2017-18 season with a 66-35 exhibition victory against Mississippi College at The Pavilion at Ole Miss on Thursday night.
Ole Miss jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first quarter and never looked back -- thanks in large part to a well-rounded effort by junior guard Madinah Muhammad. The Chicago native dropped 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field (and a 3-of-6 clip from beyond the arc), but most impressive was the remainder of her stat line: six steals, five assists and four rebounds.
Muhammad is coming off a superb sophomore season in 2016-17, during which she led the Rebels in scoring with 13.0 points per game -- a 6.6-point increase from her freshman year. She enters her junior season well within reach of the 1,000-point threshold for her career as she currently sits at 591 points scored.
The other two Rebels in double figures were both newcomers: junior transfer Barbara Johnson (13 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals) and true freshman Promise Taylor (12 points, six rebounds, six blocks, three steals) -- both earning the start in their first-ever games at The Pavilion. Taylor in particular was a highly-touted part of head coach Matt Insell's third-straight top-25 recruiting class, which was ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation.
"I thought Promise played timid and scared early, but then she got playing better there late," Insell said. "I think the more minutes she plays the better she's going to be. She played really well in the closed scrimmage we had last week that earned her a starting spot."
Taylor not only was a big target down low, but was a consistent nuisance for the Lady Choctaws in the lane. Her six blocks are more than any Rebel has recorded in a regular season game in nearly 10 years since Shawn Goff tallied six vs. Alcorn State on Nov. 24, 2008.
The Rebels shined in a few other team categories -- out-rebounding the Lady Choctaws 51-38 (including 27 offensive boards that led to 21 second-chance points), holding Mississippi College to just 28.3 percent shooting and forcing 37 turnovers on defense (with 22 team steals in the process) -- but Ole Miss turned the ball over 25 times themselves in its first game-action of the year.
"We'll fix that," Insell said. "We'll get better from that and we're happy to get the win, but we're going to have to play a lot better than that and with a lot more energy than what we played with there."
Ole Miss opens the regular season at home next Friday, Nov. 10, vs. Northwestern State at 5 p.m. inside The Pavilion at Ole Miss.
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.
