Feb. 14, 2013

Box Score | Photo Gallery

OXFORD, Miss. - Valencia McFarland's 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and an impressive second half led Ole Miss to a 65-51 come-from-behind victory over Mississippi State Thursday night.

With the win Ole Miss improved to 9-15 overall (2-9 SEC) while Mississippi State fell to 11-13 overall (3-8 SEC). Ole Miss snapped a six-game losing streak to State.

Ole Miss trailed by as many as 12 in the first half before taking its first lead of the game with 13:36 and never looking back. The Rebels outscored the Lady Bulldogs 38-16 in the second half and used a 20-3 run to start the second half and break the game open.

"I thought tonight's game was a tale of two halves. Mississippi State came in and absolutely dominated us in the first half and were physical and dictated the way the game was being played," said Ole Miss head coach Brett Frank. "At halftime our kids took some ownership and took a step in the right direction in determining we wanted to play the game in our style and I felt that was the big difference in the game."

In addition to McFarland's performance, Tia Faleru recorded her fourth career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Kenyotta Jenkins added 10 points and eight rebounds.

For the game, Ole Miss shot 37.7 percent from the floor (23-61) including 43.8 percent (14-32) in the second half.

The Lady Bulldogs started the game on a 10-2 run and pushed its lead to 10 with 8:56 left in the half.  Jenkins scored six straight points for Ole Miss within the last three minutes of the game to cut the lead to six, 31-25, with 2:22 left in the half.

Mississippi State led at the half, 35-27. Jenkins led Ole Miss with eight points in the first half while Diara Moore added six. The Rebels shot 31.0 percent (9-29) from the floor while the Lady Bulldogs shot 48.3 percent (14-29).

The Rebels started the second half on a 20-3 run to take the lead 47-40 with 11:49 to play. The Rebels stretched their lead to 12, 54-42, on a layup from Tia Faleru with 6:04 left to play.

Ole Miss will host No. 14 South Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m.  The game will be televised on the SEC Network.