No. 23 Ole Miss vs Temple | NCAA Women's Basketball | 11.15.23

OXFORD, Miss. – In its final tuneup prior to heading to the Battle4Atlantis, Ole Miss Women's Basketball ran past Temple, 80-63 from the SJB Pavilion on Wednesday night. Highlighted by season-best outings from KK Deans and Kharyssa Richardson.

Deans had herself a night, as Ole Miss (2-1) went on to claim its second-straight win over Temple (1-3). Deans paced the Rebels with her best game of the season, setting year-highs with 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. In her first start as a Rebel, Kharyssa Richardson felt right at home with a career-high tying 16 points.

Joining Deans and Richardson in double-figures were Marquesha Davis, Snudda Collins and Rita Igbokwe. Davis and Igbokwe eclipsed a season-high with 13 and 10 points, while Collins added 10 points off of two-triples. As a team, Ole Miss shot 51.8% from the field and dished out 17 assists.

The Rebel offense had an energetic start to Wednesday night, as a dynamic passing game allowed Ole Miss to get solid looks in the paint and to shoot 56% from the field. Hot shooting with 24 points in the first quarter propelled Ole Miss to take the early lead.On the defensive end, Ole Miss held Temple's physical offense to only make 18% of its shots and score 13 points in the first 10 minutes.

To start the second quarter, Ole Miss remained hot from the field and kept the fouls to a minimum to quicken the pace of play. The Rebel defense allowed only 13 points to be scored in the second quarter for a total of 26 in the first half. Deans hit double digits early in the second quarter and snagged her third steal of the game to assist Ole Miss in taking a 42-26 lead into the break.

Temple pushed Ole Miss around with an 8-0 surge at the start of the third quarter, with two timeouts called, the pace of play slowed and the Rebel offense struggled. Toward the end of the third quarter, the Rebels put man to man pressure on Temple's offense and to bring momentum in their favor. The Rebels managed to keep their lead, 61-43, heading into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Rebels remained consistent on both sides of the ball and continued to pad their lead. Highlighted by five finishing in double-digit scoring, Ole Miss walked away with the 80-61 win over Temple.

Ole Miss is back in action against Howard on Saturday, Nov. 18 from Paradise Island, Bahamas for its first of three games at the Battle4Atlantis. Tipoff against the Bison is slated for 11 a.m. CT, streaming on FloHoops.