Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Amber Watts put up a career-high 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against Florida.
	Women's Basketball Home HEADLINES Ole Miss Women's Basketball Team Donates To American Red Cross Lady Rebel Hoopsters Set To Perform At Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Weekend Armintie Price Slated To Speak At Laurel-Jones County Public Library Thursday RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college basketball action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

 
Late Rally Falls Short As Florida Holds On To Down Ole Miss 78-64

Watts' Career-high 25 Points Not Enough To Earn The Win

Feb. 27, 2003

Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Box Score

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Amber Watts matched a career-high with 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as cold shooting and turnovers in the first half let Florida (9-17, 1-12 SEC) build up a 16-point halftime lead on the way to a 78-64 win over Ole Miss (12-13, 1-12 SEC).

Florida played perhaps its best game of the season, shooting better than 55 percent from the floor for most of the second half while Ole Miss struggled to find the basket. The Lady Rebels struggled from the floor, hitting only one basket in the second half until back-to-back baskets by Genice Terry at the 10:43 mark.

The Lady Rebels went to work from there, using a flurry of baskets to cut the Florida lead to 10 at the seven minute mark with a furious 18-point run. It wouldn't be enough as Ole Miss could not cut the lead to any closer than seven the rest of the way out.

"The first half, Amber had us on our shoulders and we didn't have anyone step up and help her carry the load," said head coach Ron Aldy. "We didn't hit the boards and got careless with the turnovers and they captialized.

"The second half they got a good lead and our kids started kind of late trying to fight back," Aldy said. "We got back on our heels until that run. The perimeter players got the looks, but we failed to knock them down tonight."

Ole Miss got out to a quick lead in the first half behind the solid play of Amber Watts, who hit the first four baskets and score the first nine points for the Lady Rebels. The Lady Gators tied the game up at 14 before Tishona Gregory hit her first three of the game in the middle of a seven-point run for the Lady Gators who pushed out 21-14.

Florida would push the lead out to 27-16 before Genice Terry would hit a three-point basket, her first basket of the game, to cut the lead back to eight. Florida would respond, pushing the lead to 15 and going to the halftime lead up 34-19.

Watts hit 5-of-6 from the floor and notched 11 points in the first half, but the Lady Rebels got little offensive production from anywhere else on the floor. The Lady Gators outrebounded Ole Miss 23-17 on the way to the halftime lead..

Delila Eshe led Florida with 17 points on the night and was one of five players to score nine or more points on the night. Florida outrebounded Ole Miss 50-37 in a rare occurence for the Lady Rebels. Ole Miss won the turnover battle for the game 20-18, but the Lady Gators used 14 Ole Miss turnovers in the first half to build the lead.

Carletta Brown was the only other Lady Rebels to score in double-digits with 12 points on the night.

Ole Miss will have two days to prepare for the final game of the season on Sunday against another top-20 team ni South Carolina. It will mark sixth ranked team Ole Miss will have faced in the last seven games.

"We had a good run late and played hard for ourselves and really made Florida earn some things late," Aldy said. "Hopefully we can take some things from that, and especially learn that you can't dig a hole that deep in the first half and win the game."

The Lady Rebels will close out the season at home against the No. 13 South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday. The game is set for 2 p.m. in Tad Smith Coliseum.