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HomeSports#24/RV UT Lady Vols rally to beat Ole Miss Rebels 57-51

#24/RV UT Lady Vols rally to beat Ole Miss Rebels 57-51

UT Athletics Department

UT Lady VolsKnoxville, TN Bashaara Graves posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and No. 24/RV Tennessee enjoyed timely contributions off the bench from Meme Jackson and Kortney Dunbar to take a 57-51 win over Ole Miss on Thursday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee (16-10, 7-6 SEC) surged in the second half to post its 28th-straight win over Ole Miss (10-16, 2-11 SEC). UT came back from a 33-30 halftime deficit, marking the Lady Vols’ first win of the season after trailing at the half. Tennessee entered the night 0-5 when behind at halftime.

Tennessee Lady Vols' Bashaara Graves posts a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds as UT defeats Rebels for 28th-straight time. (Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics)
Tennessee Lady Vols’ Bashaara Graves posts a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds as UT defeats Rebels for 28th-straight time. (Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics)

Graves scored 11 of her 15 points in the first half and her 12 boards were her most since collecting 12 against Kentucky on January 25th. Te’a Cooper and Jaime Nared scored 10 points each.

Shandricka Sessom led Ole Miss with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting. A’Queen Hayes added 12 points and eight boards for the Rebels.

The Rebels went on a 10-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter and briefly led 51-50 with 2:30 remaining. Dunbar answered with a fast-break layup and hit a 3-pointer from the left wing in UT’s next possession to spark Tennessee’s game-ending 7-0 run.

The Lady Vols caught fire in the third quarter, outscoring Ole Miss 16-6 to seize a 46-39 lead. Jackson brought energy off of the bench for Tennessee and capped the quarter with a pair of jumpers in the final minute of the third, including a pull-up 10-footer with three seconds left that ignited the crowd. UT forced 10-straight misses by the Rebels as the Lady Vols swung momentum in their favor.

Ole Miss held a 33-30 lead at halftime and Sessom led all scorers with 15 points. Graves had 11 points and six boards in the first half. Nared had eight points and seven rebounds, helping fill UT’s void in the paint created by Mercedes Russell’s early exit due to injury.

The Lady Vols had a 25-14 rebounding advantage in the first half despite losing Russell in the first quarter. Ole Miss scored 15 of its 33 first-half points on 3-pointers as the Rebels went 5-of-10 from long distance. UT’s 11-of-14 effort from the free-throw line in the first 20 minutes kept the Lady Vols within striking distance.

Tennessee started the second quarter with a 10-3 run and led 24-22 four minutes in. The Rebels responded with 11 points over the next six minutes to re-take the lead.

Ole Miss led 19-14 after the first quarter. Sessom, who was averaging a team-high 15.6 points per game entering Thursday’s contest, led the Rebels with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Sessom hit a 3-pointer from the left corner at the buzzer to give Ole Miss a five-point lead heading into the second quarter.

Series vs. Ole Miss

  • Tennessee is 44-7 all-time against Ole Miss and 20-2 against the Rebels in Knoxville.
  • The Lady Vols have won the last 28 games in the UT-Ole Miss series.

Miscellaneous Notes

Tennessee is now 3-10 this season when trailing in the fourth quarter.

Bashaara Graves has back-to-back double-doubles as she had 13 points and 10 points against South Carolina on February 15th. Graves’ double-double against Ole Miss on Thursday was her seventh of the season. She now has 28 double-doubles in her career, ranking second among all active players in the SEC. Graves (963 career rebounds) passed Debbie Groover (957) for seventh place on Tennessee’s all-time rebounding list

Meme Jackson scored four points in the win, marking the first time she has scored since January 28th against Mississippi State.

UT held Ole Miss to six points in the third quarter, marking the 11th time this year that Tennessee has held an opponents to under 10 points in a quarter. It tied for Tennessee’s fewest points allowed in a single quarter.

Tennessee held Ole Miss scoreless over a stretch of 8:02, spanning the final seven minutes of the third quarter and the first minute of the fourth.

Up Next

The Lady Vols next play LSU on February 21st at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, LA. The game will feature a 2:00pm ET/1:00pm CT tip-off on ESPNU.

Tennessee is 47-13 all-time against LSU and 15-6 against the Tigers in Baton Rouge.

UT has won the last three games in the series and 10 of the last 11.

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