How It Happened: Ole Miss Women's Basketball Captures 86-57 Win Over Old Dominion

CHEROKEE, N.C. – No. 14/14 Ole Miss women’s basketball claimed a competitive victory over Old Dominion, 86-57, in game one of the Cherokee Invitational in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Ole Miss (12-1, 0-0 SEC) led most of the game despite Old Dominion’s (7-5, 0-1 Sun Belt) best efforts, which included a 28-point third quarter. However, the Rebels responded with 29 points of their own in the fourth to run away with the victory.

By winning, Ole Miss advanced to the Championship Round of the tournament and will face No. 24/23 Michigan State tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. CT.

The win also signifies head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s second time as Ole Miss’ leader to guide the team to a 12-1 start to a season, making her the only Rebel coach in the 21st century to have multiple 12-1 starts to the season.

She joins former Ole Miss legend Van Chancellor as the only head coaches in program history to have one or fewer losses through the first 13 games of a season.

Christeen Iwuala tallied another double-double to her career season, having a career-high 23 points and team-leading 10 rebounds. Iwuala has set, reset or tied her personal career high point total four times this season, and became the second Rebel (behind Cotie McMahon) to reach the 200-point mark this season.

With her double-double, she now has six for her career, all coming this season. All of them have come in increments of two consecutive games, making this the third instance of her having back-to-back double-doubles this season.

McMahon was no slouch offensively either, tallying 19 points with seven rebounds. McMahon is one game shy of tying Shandricka Sessom’s most recent record of most games to start a season with at least 10 points, as she aims to meet Sessom’s feat tomorrow against Michigan State.

Latasha Lattimore once again had a solid game as a member of the starting lineup, cementing herself as a consistent third option behind McMahon and Iwuala. She contributed 15 points and four blocks, her third consecutive game with multiple blocks.

She’s the first Rebel since Rita Igbokwe in the 2023-24 season to record at least two blocks in back-to-back-to-back games. Another significant mark Lattimore set includes having the most blocks in a three-game stretch (13) since Domonique Banks in 2019-2020 had that many in the same amount of games.

Cotie McMahon: Ole Miss Basketball. — Courtesy of Ole Miss Women's Basketball.

Ole Miss’ offense came out swinging to begin the game, going on an early 8-0 run after Old Dominion scored the first bucket of the day. Most of the Rebel points came from driving layups from a range of Rebels, including Iwuala, Lattimore and Denim DeShields. In that span, the Rebels held the Monarchs scoreless for nearly four minutes.

Following the media timeout, McMahon got involved with a steamrolling layup to extend Ole Miss’ lead to double-digits. The Rebels maintained that scoring momentum to end the quarter with a 22-11 lead, Ole Miss’ fourth consecutive game with a double-digit lead after the initial 10 minutes.

Both teams had a relatively slow second quarter, as the Rebels outscored the Monarchs 11-8 in the period. Old Dominion once again scored the first basket of the period, but Ole Miss responded with two points from Iwuala and J’Adore Young apiece.

The remainder of the period saw a combined seven free throws and three field goals made between the two teams. At the half, Iwuala and McMahon were Ole Miss’ top scorers with 10 and nine points, respectively, as the Rebels led 33-19.

Iwuala made the difference to start the third quarter, scoring Ole Miss’ first seven points of the period. Three of her points came from the free throw line while she continued to dominate the paint offensively with a left-handed hook shot and another contested layup.

Ole Miss Rebels Women's Basketball vs. Baylor. Bears: NCAA Tournament. — Courtesy of Ole Miss Women's Basketball.

McMahon began to pick up some slack, adding a couple buckets herself to support Iwuala. However, despite consistent scoring, the Monarchs went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc to minimize the Rebel’s lead. With its highly efficient shooting, Old Dominion slimmed Ole Miss’ lead to 10 points at 57-47 entering the final 10 minutes of action.

The Rebels returned to form in the fourth, thanks to a stellar effort from Ole Miss’ top three scorers. Lattimore opened the quarter with five unanswered points before adding another free throw after an Old Dominion layup.

Iwuala and McMahon sandwiched baskets in quick succession, giving Ole Miss a more than 20-point lead, as Old Dominion’s offense sputtered and committed several turnovers. Debreasha Powe and Lauren Jacobs added a 3-pointer each to push the lead to more than 30. Jacobs’ last bucket signified the end of the scoring for both teams, with the final at 86-55.

Tipoff for tomorrow’s championship matchup is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed on WSN.

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