Jan. 3, 2013

Box Score

BATON ROUGE, Miss. – In a back and forth game that featured seven ties and 12 lead changes, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought game to LSU 84-79 Thursday night in the SEC opener for both teams.

With the loss, Ole Miss falls to 7-7 overall (0-1 SEC) while LSU improves to 10-4 overall (1-0 SEC)

Tia Faleru recorded her second double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Gracie Frizzell added 17 points, Diara Moore scored 11 and Valencia McFarland scored 10 and added nine assists.

As a team, Ole Miss tied their season-high with 10 threes. The Rebels shot 43.9 percent (29-65) from the floor as a team.

LSU took advantage of Ole Miss’ early turnovers as the Tigers jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead to start the game.  The Rebels came back to trail by two, 21-19, after a layup from Courtney Mabra with 12:14 left in the half.

The Tigers pushed their lead to 10, 29-19, with 8:56 to play but the Rebels cut their lead to three, 31-28, after baskets on back-to-back possessions from Amber Singletary.

A three from McFarland tied the game at 31-31 and Faleru’s basket with 3:38 to play gave the Rebels their first lead of the game, 32-31.

At the half, Ole Miss led 40-39. Faleru led the Rebels with 14 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Ole Miss shot 45.5 percent (15-33) from the floor while LSU shot 50 percent (16-32).

In the second half, Ole Miss trailed by seven, 64-57, with 10:59 to play before coming back to tie the game on a three from Frizzell, 65-65, with 9:40 remaining.

The game was tied at 75-75 before the Tigers went up four, 80-76, with 1:56 remaining.

Ole Miss will host Vanderbilt Sunday at 2 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNU. Sunday’s game is Faith and Family Day and fans will receive FREE admission with that day's church bulletin and to FCA members with flyer.