BOCA RATON, Fla. - Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 30 points and was named tournament MVP in leading Ole Miss to an 80-57 win over Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Florida Atlantic/Boca Bridge Hotel Holiday Tournament from the FAU Arena.
Thomas averaged 20.5 points over the course of the two games and has now scored at least 22 points in four of the team's first five games and currently leads the SEC in scoring at 22.7 points per game.
Shantell Black also secured a spot on the all-tournament team for Ole Miss after finishing Saturday with nine points and six assists, finishing the weekend with a total of 14 assists for an average of 7.0 per game.
Kayla Holloway turned in her best performance in an Ole Miss uniform and tallied her first double-double of her career. Holloway finished with a career-high 10 points to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds to help the Rebels hold a 43-31 edge on the glass and an 18-4 edge in second chance points.
Elizabeth Robertson was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, including 2-for-2 from three-point range, and finished the afternoon with 10 points and four rebounds.
Ole Miss (5-1) finished 12-for-12 from the free throw line to mark the first time since the 2002-03 season that a Rebel team shot 100.0 percent from the charity stripe. In that game, the Rebels went 17-for-17 against Mississippi State.
Andrea Taylor led the Owls with 11 points, while both Breana Kone and Breana Turner each finished with 10 points apiece.
Ole Miss and Florida Atlantic stayed within six points of each other for the first 10 minutes of the opening half before the Rebels opened up an 11-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining on a basket from Thomas. The Owls managed to cut the Rebel lead to nine points two different times, but failed to get any closer at any point during the contest.
The Rebels continued to pull away in the second half and would go on to lead by as many as 28 points.
Ole Miss returns to action Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. when the Rebels travel to Little Rock, Ark., to take on UALR from the Jack Stephens Center.
