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Lady Rebels Come Up Short, Fall 60-67 To Vanderbilt

Sophomore guard Carletta Brown led Ole Miss with 19 points.

Feb. 13, 2003

Box Score in PDF Format

Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss (12-11, 1-9 SEC) fought a hard battle, with three Lady Rebels scoring in double digits, but came up short as No. 18 Vanderbilt (16-7, 6-4 SEC) held on to squeak out a 67-60 win over the Lady Rebels in a wild finish in Oxford.

Carletta Brown led Ole Miss in scoring with 19 points on the night, while Genice Terry added 13 and Ashley Johnson chipped in 11, but it wasn't enough to overpower Vanderbilt, who held on down the stretch with free throws to claim the win.

"We came close the entire night, by doing well on help side defense when Chantelle Anderson was posting up," said head coach Ron Aldy. "The biggest thing in the first half was we didn't close out on Abi Ramsey when she hit those outside shots. In the second half when we got in foul trouble and Tywanna Inmon got injured, we lost a lot of our presence inside."

Vanderbilt got on the board first, but Ole Miss answered with two straight baskets from behind the arc to take a 6-4 lead, but it would be short lived as the Commodores took the lead back behind the solid shooting of Abi Ramsey and Jenny Benningfield, who both were the only Vanderbilt players to score from the floor in the first half. Terry's 11 points in the first half kept Ole Miss in the game as the Lady Rebels trailed 32-24 at half.

The Lady Rebels came out fighting in the second half, cutting the lead to two at 53-51 on a three-point shot from Brown before Vanderbilt extended the streak again. The Commodores never trailed despite the late run from the Lady Rebels.

Ole Miss cut the lead to six points, 63-57, when Elizabeth Cansdale hit two free throws off a technical foul on Vanderbilt's Anderson with nine seconds on the clock. Anderson got whistled for an exchange with Ole Miss' Amber Watts after Watts fouled her preventing an easy layup on a fast break. Anderson hit two free throws to extend the lead back out to eight on free throws resulting from the foul on Watts. Brown took the inbounds for Ole Miss and drove the length of the court, pulling up and drilling a three with three seconds on the clock to cut the lead back to 65-60.

Vanderbilt reached the final margin of victory when Ashley McElhiney hit two free throws after Ole Miss fouled her on the inbounds pass.

"They're the type of team who is going to capitalize on any miscues you have," Aldy said. "As much as this team has to scrap and fight, miscues really hurt us. We're not pleased with the outcome tonight, but we fought until the end."

The Lady Rebels out-rebounded the Commodores 49-39 and forced Vanderbilt into 20 turnovers. Ole Miss turned the ball over 18 times on the night while committing 29 fouls, sending the Commodores to the line for 36 free throws. Vanderbilt hit 26-of-36 from the charity stripe.

The Lady Rebels will have a week off before returning to the court against No. 4 LSU. The Tigers and Lady Rebels will tip off at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, in Tad Smith Coliseum.