The Recap: Ole Miss Women's Basketball Crumbles Late in 78-70 Loss to LSU Tigers

OXFORD, Miss. – No. 17/17 Ole Miss women's basketball pushed No. 7/7 LSU to its limit but ultimately fell, 78-70, Thursday evening at the SJB Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi.

Cotie McMahon led the Rebels (21-7, 8-5 SEC) with 25 points against the Tigers (23-4, 9-4 SEC). She now has 17 games of at least 20 points this season. It's tied with Peggie Gillom (who did it twice) for the third most in a single season by any Rebel ever and is the most since Bianca Thomas had 19 such games in 2009-10.

Thomas' mark ranks second in program history. At the minimal level, McMahon has reached double-digit points in 27 games this season, which is the most by a Rebel since Crystal Allen had 28 in 2018-19.

Ole Miss' frontcourt duo of Christeen Iwuala and Latasha Lattimore had solid games, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively. The pair also recorded eight rebounds apiece.

Lattimore had three blocks, marking the 11th time this season she's had at least that many. The last Rebel to have that many games with a trio of blocks was Promise Taylor, who had 14 in 2017-18.

McMahon picked up where she left off last time out, draining 3-pointer on her first attempt of the day. The Tigers took a lead as big as 10 points, despite another three from McMahon. With Ole Miss' fast-paced offense, it managed to split LSU's lead in half by the end of the quarter. McMahon contributed an early 10 points as LSU took a 26-21 lead into the second.

McMahon tied the contest on Ole Miss' second possession of the second quarter after drilling her third 3-pointer of the game off a dish from Denim DeShields. Ole Miss' frontcourt duo of Iwuala and Lattimore added a field goal each to tie the game at 31 apiece. Debreasha Powe came away with an important block to keep the score deadlocked.

Tianna Thompson broke the draw with her first bucket of the day, a 3-pointer off a wide-open feed from McMahon. With a minute remaining, Ole Miss and LSU exchanged layups, but the Rebels held the ball for the final shot of the half. After a missed layup, J'Adore Young swooped in for the offensive board and upped a shot at the last second to improve Ole Miss' lead to 43-37.

Thompson kickstarted a strong stretch for the Rebels in the third quarter with her second triple of the game. She followed that effort with a heroic hustle rebound, keeping the ball inbound after it looked like it would sail out of play, grabbing an offensive rebound and dishing to wide open Iwuala. Ole Miss capped that run with another trey from Thompson that increased its lead to 13.

After that stretch, LSU mounted offensive pressure by bringing the lead back to single digits. LSU's defense also stepped up and forced multiple turnovers from Ole Miss.

McMahon dodged defenders on her way for a strong layup to help Ole Miss' lead. Powe then complemented the effort by knocking down a 3-pointer to give the Rebels a 63-54 lead with 10 minutes to play.

The battle became testy in crunch time as both teams got anxious for the final buzzer to sound. LSU would have the better quarter despite the efforts of McMahon and company. The Tigers outscored the Rebels by double-digits in the fourth en route to a 78-70 victory.

Ole Miss hits the road to Columbia, South Carolina, to face the South Carolina Gamecocks for a Sunday morning matchup. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. CT on Feb. 22, and will be broadcast on ESPN for College Gameday.

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