Lady Lions’ woes lead to victory for Ole Miss

Third-quarter struggles cost the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff a women’s basketball win over a second Power Five team Thursday afternoon.

UAPB fell 62-47 to Ole Miss at H.O. Clemmons Arena in the Lady Lions’ final non-conference home game this season.

The game was tied at 24 after a tightly-contested first half, but Ole Miss (9-3) dominated the third quarter 22-9. The Rebels drew 11 fouls while getting called for just four during the quarter. Ole Miss made 11 of 14 free throws, while UAPB made 1 of 2.

UAPB coach Dawn Thornton said Ole Miss’s defense made the difference.

“I definitely think that it got us out of sync, not really in rhythm of what we wanted to do,” Thornton said. “That hindered us a little bit, but I thought that there was still a lot of positives, some takeaways that we just didn’t really capitalize on in the third. I thought we played well in the first two quarters, but you gotta be able to put 40 minutes together in order to win a game.”

UAPB (4-8) shot 3 of 14 from the field in the third quarter, while the Rebels shot 45.5%. The Lady Lions cut the lead to 52-45 during the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter, but Ole Miss answered with an 8-0 run to put the game away.

Coriah Beck led UAPB with 14 points and made two 3-pointers. Ole Miss held Zaay Green to a season-low 12 points, though she added 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said Green is a phenomenal player.

“She’s a future pro,” McPhee-McCuin said. “It took a team effort. We really studied her tendencies and, collectively, we just wanted to make her take tough shots every single time. For the most part, I thought we did that.”

Madison Scott and University of Arkansas transfer Marquesha Davis led Ole Miss with 13 points.

Davis, whose hometown is McGehee but who played high school ball at Springdale, had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Kennedy Todd-Williams added 11.

UAPB’s 47 points is the fewest the Lady Lions have scored since scoring 42 last season in a March 2 home loss to Jackson State. Green said Ole Miss’ full court press and rebounding made it tough for UAPB. The Rebels outrebounded the Lady Lions 43-33.

“The score was low really the whole game, so that’s how you know both teams was playing very, very tough defense,” Green said. “I think this was needed for both teams. Definitely needed for us going into the SWAC, and then for them, you know they’re [fixing to] have a hard conference as well. So, it was a good game.”

Prior to the game, UAPB recognized McPhee-McCuin, a former Lady Lion assistant coach who also holds a master’s degree from UAPB. She also coached UAPB assistant coach Briona Brown from 2012-16 when Brown played for Jacksonville.

McPhee-McCuin said it meant the world to come back to Pine Bluff to play in Clemmons Arena again.

“I have a lot of pride in being a grad of UAPB,” McPhee-McCuin said. “I’m a supporter of Coach [Thornton] and the university and [athletic director Chris] Robinson. So, for me to come here and be a part back in this environment was surreal.”

This game drew 2,246 fans, almost all representing UAPB, despite being played on a Thursday afternoon just before Christmas. They were loud for the entire game as they tried to will UAPB to victory.

Thornton said it shows a growth in support from the community.

“They been rallying behind these girls,” Thornton said. “It’s been a beautiful thing to watch the support of everybody. It’s beautiful. I hope that we can continue to have that as we push forward and get ready for conference play in January. We’d love to be able to have our sixth man here.”