Ole Miss keeps rolling, wins seventh game in a row

Dec. 1—OXFORD — Yolett McPhee-McCuin spent two years remembering what Nov. 15, 2019 felt like.

On that day, McPhee-McCuin, then in her second season as the Ole Miss women's basketball coach, and the Rebels fell to New Orleans at home 69-64. It was admittedly a low point in a 7-23 season that had more than a few of them.

So when McPhee-McCuin's Ole Miss team defeated the Privateers by 45 points Wednesday afternoon, it was proof of how far the program has come.

Behind a dominant overall defensive performance and a breakout effort from graduate transfer Angel Baker, the Rebels defeated New Orleans 92-47. It is the seventh win in a row since losing the season opener against Belmont for Ole Miss (7-1).

Baker, a graduate transfer from Wright State, scored 21 points, the most in her Ole Miss career, with 19 coming in the first half.

"This was a sentimental game for me, personally, because two years ago we lost to New Orleans. And it was a very low place of my ... coaching career. So, it was refreshing to kind of get that off our backs," McPhee-McCuin said. "Usually, as a coach, when you lose to a team, you have that taste in your mouth until you play them again. That's just the life we live. ... But overall, we'll be able to have enough film to continue to build on where we're trying to go."

After a slow start where they trailed by three midway through the first quarter, the Rebels finished the period on a 16-4 run. That dominance carried into a second quarter, where Ole Miss outscored New Orleans by 17 points and held the Privateers to just three made field goals.

The Privateers shot 42.9% from the field in the first quarter but failed to break the 25% threshold in any of the subsequent three quarters.

Ole Miss led 55-29 at halftime largely because of Baker, who was an efficient 8 of 11 from the field, including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. It was her second double-digit scoring effort of the season (18 against Mississippi Valley State).

"For me, I'm like, 'What the h—l took you so long? This is what we need from (Baker)," McPhee-McCuin said. "We're not surprised. We expect Angel to play this way."

The Rebels blew the game open in the third, outscoring New Orleans 23-10 and led by as many as 48 late in the fourth quarter.

Senior center Shakira Austin scored 17 points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Madison Scott had 14 points and made 8 of 10 shots from the free throw line.

Since losing to Belmont 62-50, Ole Miss has won its seven games by an average of 27.6 points a contest.

"That wasn't us that night (against Belmont). I truly believe that, that wasn't us," Scott said. "If we were to play them now, I believe it would be a different outcome. ... Like coach says, she always pulls that film up to remind us of (what) we messed up on, what we did. Because that was not us at all, we looked horrible. We're working every day to not look like that again."

Ole Miss plays at Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.