Ole Miss Women's Basketball's Season Ends With NCAA Tournament Loss to Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – No. 19/20 Ole Miss women's basketball fell short in its Round of 32 matchup against No. 18/19 Minnesota, 65-63, Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

The Rebels (24-12, 8-8 SEC) fell in dramatic fashion as the Golden Gophers (24-8, 13-5 Big Ten) made a last-second fadeaway jumper from the elbow as time expired.

Cotie McMahon's historic season at Ole Miss ended with her reaching 703 points on the year. Against the Gophers, she scored 15 points and surpassed Ole Miss legend Peggie Gillom for the fourth-most points by a Rebel in a single season.

She's the first Rebel to break the top four in that category since 1985-86, when Jennifer Gillom set the program record with 742 points that season.

Sira Thienou was Ole Miss' leading scorer with 18 points. She added five rebounds and two assists.

Minnesota's Mara Braun and Amaya Battle led the Gophers with 17 and 14 points, respectively, and it was Battle who scored the game-winning bucket.

Ole Miss and Minnesota matched each other's intensity early with defense headlining the first five minutes of the game. The game slowed with both teams recording three fouls before the media timeout. In that span, Ole Miss reached a 7-6 lead behind Christeen Iwuala and Thienou free throws.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Rebels Women's Basketball.

Thienou extended the lead with a corner three off a dish from Denim DeShields. However, Minnesota caught up and secured its first lead of the game with back-to-back buckets in under 30 seconds to end the quarter with the lead.

After early foul trouble, McMahon returned to the court in the second and kicked off the scoring with a 3-pointer. With her basket, she reached 693 points for the season, pushing her past Gillom. The Rebels used that momentum to come back within two points of the lead, but Minnesota's Braun made consecutive 3-pointers to put the Gophers back up by five. Ole Miss closed the half on a five-point scoring run, but still trailed Minnesota, 32-29, with half the game remaining.

Debreasha Powe tied the game early in the second half by draining a deep 3-pointer to open the scoring. The Rebels retook the lead three minutes into the quarter after consecutive layups from Iwuala and Powe, the latter of which came off a fastbreak turnover from Minnesota.

DeShields later hit a corner three, Ole Miss' fifth of the game, to put the Rebels ahead by two possessions. After another exchange of triples, McMahon and Thienou made two layups for an additional cushion to put the Rebels ahead 54-46 with 10 minutes remaining.

Ole Miss played stout defense in the early moments of the fourth, forcing Minnesota to miss its first five shots before the media timeout. The teams both added two points in that time, the Gophers from the free throw line and the Rebels with a Thienou layup.

McMahon would foul out with over four minutes to play, in which time Minnesota would mount a comeback. Braun tied the game with a 3-pointer with just over one minute remaining. The Gophers and Rebels exchanged layups, but Battle's jumper from the elbow would be the game winner.

Ole Miss' historic season concludes with a 24-12 overall record, its fifth straight appearance at the NCAA Tournament, its 15th-ever appearance in the tournament's second round (third in four years), the fifth-most points by an Ole Miss team in a single season ever, and the sixth-most team 3-pointers made in a single season.

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