Ole Miss guard Mimi Reid drilled a three on the first possession of Sunday’s game in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Rebels didn’t look back from there.
Ole Miss (8-11, 2-3) led from start to finish, defeating the Florida women’s basketball team (5-13, 1-4 SEC) 76-66.
The Gators had their chances to break Mississippi’s stranglehold. A 9-0 run in the fourth quarter brought them within two with about seven minutes remaining, but any hope of a repeat of last Sunday – when Florida stormed back from 14 down to upset Missouri – was dashed when Ole Miss responded with a 7-0 run of its own.
Florida’s best quarter was the second, which it ended on a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to just one point. Ole Miss answered in the third quarter, however, using a 10-2 run to stretch its lead to eight points by the end of the period.
Shandricka Sessom had the hot hand for the Rebels early, draining three consecutive threes to put her team ahead 14-6 in the first. Florida quickly called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but it was left trying to play catch-up for the rest of the afternoon.
Sessom finished with a team-high 19 points. Forward La'Karis Salter, who dominated the paint all afternoon, wasn’t far behind with a season-high 18 in just 24 minutes. Crystal Allen, the SEC’s second-leading scorer, was held scoreless by the Gators in the first half before lighting up the scoreboard with 14 in the second.
It was a return to form for UF’s leading scorer Funda Nakkasoglu, whose scoring numbers were down in SEC play. The guard rebounded with a team-high 21 on Sunday, matching Allen with 14 points of her own in the second half. Guard Danielle Rainey continued shooting the ball well for Florida, following up her career-high 16 against Missouri with 15 against Ole Miss.
Follow Sam Campisano on Twitter @sampcampisano and contact him at scampisano@alligator.org.
Guard Funda Nakkasoglu led the Gators in scoring with 21 points in Sunday's 76-66 loss to Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi.
