The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A SEASON of struggles came to an end for head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and her Ole Miss Rebels Women’s Basketball programme in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.

The Rebels suffered a 64-53 loss to the Missouri Tigers yesterday at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Rebels finished the season at 7-23 and ended the year on a 17-game losing streak, winless in the SEC.

The Tigers completed a three-game season sweep over the Rebels after they won the previous matchups this season - 71-57 on January 19 and 87-62 on February 23.

“I thought they gave everything they had,” said Yolett McPhee-McCuin.

“I commend my young ladies for just continuing and fighting every single day.”

The Rebels will have the No.1 recruiting class in the SEC for the 2020-2021 season.

“I think we’ll look totally different,” McPhee-McCuin said. “We have four young ladies that are home that will be eligible to play in the fall. And then we have three so far coming in that are pretty good.”

The Rebels’ last win came on December 28 in a 93-66 blowout win over Alabama State. With that win, the team entered conference play at 7-7.

Since then the programme was plagued by injuries and the dismissal of Bahamian national team standout Valarie Nesbitt.

The junior point guard was just 15 games into her tenure with the programme.

Nesbitt led the Southeastern Conference in steals at 3.2 takeaways per game and had six games this season with at least four. She was the Rebels’ second-leading scorer at 11.3 points a game and was also second in minutes played at 24.3 per game.

In two seasons at Ole Miss, McPhee-McCuin has a record of 16-44 and she is 110-107 in her seven seasons as a Division I head coach.

Last year, the Rebels finished 9-22 - 3-13 in conference play. The season was highlighted by the first ranked road win for the Rebels since 2011 when Ole Miss defeated the Kentucky Wildcats for the first time since 2007.

The season concluded with a first round loss to the Florida Gators 67-54, also in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Playing in the SEC for the last two years the Rebels have gone up against 13 nationally ranked squads, 12 of which have come in SEC play.