Alabama
Ole Miss
Alabama Women's Basketball Shuts Down Ole Miss, 48-37
2/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Alabama women's basketball team (14-9, 3-7 Southeastern Conference) stifled the Ole Miss Rebels (10-12, 2-7 SEC) on Thursday night, 48-37. The 37 points are the fewest the Crimson Tide has allowed against a conference foe since limiting Mississippi State to 36 on March 6, 2013 at that season's SEC Tournament.
"We did a great job there executing in the first part of the game and getting some great looks, and then kind of went away from who we needed to be," said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. "We kept trying to talk at media timeouts and get them settled down a little bit. We kind of panicked there, you know, at times, but we stayed the course, stuck with the game plan and showed some maturity and character. I just thought character won the second half. I'm so happy for our kids."
Senior Nikki Hegstetter opened the scoring, knocking home a jumper for a 2-0 lead 12 seconds into the game. That would be one of only four field goals made by the Alabama in the quarter, but the Tide scored seven points from the foul line while giving up just four field goals as well. Alabama led by as many as nine points (14-5) in the opening frame and took a 15-9 lead into the second quarter.
The Tide was held scoreless until the 6:17 mark of the period, allowing the Rebels to even the score at 15-15. Sophomore Meoshonti Knight made a free throw to push Alabama back in front by one. Over 2:30 would run off the clock before the next points were scored, a trey by Ole Miss' Torri Lewis, to give them their first lead of the night at 18-16. The teams would go into the half tied at 20-20. The Tide converted 6-of-18 from the floor and turned the ball over 13 times, but limited the Rebels to 8-for-29 from the field and held an 8-2 advantage from the foul line.
Alabama took control of the game in the third period, outscoring the Rebels 18-7. After Ole Miss went ahead 24-22, the Tide used an 8-1 run, capped by a three-pointer from sophomore Hannah Cook, to move in front 30-25. The visitors would get as close as three, but Alabama would record the final eight points of the quarter for its largest lead of the game (38-27) going into the final 10 minutes of play.
"I feel like we kind of calmed down a little bit," said Knight. "We were more poised. We converted on the offensive end. We got shots, more rebounds. We took it in, and we took our time offensively and, we got more shots."
The Rebels scored the first points of the fourth quarter to trim the deficit to nine, but after Cook responded with a jumper, Ole Miss would not be within single digits again. The Tide's lead would swell to as many as 15 late in the game. The Rebels were good on just five of their 29 shot attempts in the second half, including going 1-of-9 from behind the arc.
For the game, Alabama shot 15-for-41 (36.6 percent) from the floor and collected 41 rebounds. Ole Miss was 13-of-58 (22.4 percent), making just three of its 21 shots from deep, while bringing down 39 rebounds.
Knight was Alabama's leading scorer with 14 points, while Cook nearly recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points while bringing in nine rebounds. Hegstetter also just missed out on a double-doubles, grabbing 10 boards and nine points.
Next up, Alabama welcomes the Auburn Tigers to Foster Auditorium on Sunday, Feb. 7 for a 1 p.m. CT contest. The game will air live on the SEC Network.
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