The 2024-25 women's college basketball season tipped off Monday as No. 20 Ole Miss and No. 3 USC faced off in Paris. The afternoon game came down to the wire as USC got a key steal late in the game to secure a 68-66 win over the Rebels.
The ending, in addition to being dramatic, was also paradoxical to the game up until the closing seconds. Throughout the majority of the 40-minute contest, Ole Miss was the better defensive team. Last season, the Rebels turned over their opponent an average 16.9 times per game. In the neutral site game, Ole Miss coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin's squad forced 26 USC turnovers that led to 18 points for Ole Miss.
"Ole Miss does a really good job of pressuring, and at the same time, it's not like all of a sudden there's a parting of the sea and you beat someone," USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said postgame.
Instead, her team had to find a way to overcome to constant defensive pressure Ole Miss deployed to take the lead late in the game.
The Rebels erased an 11-point first-half deficit and took their first lead late in the game off a great shooting performance from KK Deans down the stretch.
"Deans just got super hot from 3, and that that kind of shifted the tide," Gottlieb said. "That got them going. They got better with their pressure. And I don't think we were able to kind of take control back on that end as quickly as we needed to."
It was a strong 19-point performance from Deans, who missed last season with a knee injury, but unfortunately she fouled out with 21 seconds remaining in the game and the score tied at 66. With Deans on the bench, USC stole the inbound attempt and took the lead at the foul line.
Before leaving for Paris, McPhee-McCuin looked forward to proving her team was worthy of a season-opening game on national television in Paris. She also wanted to get good film that she and her team can use to determine where they need to adapt and improve.
"We've done a great job of scheduling a type of non-conference where we have opportunities to play really well and feel good about ourselves, and then opportunities to find out what maybe we're not so good at," McPhee-McCuin said before leaving for Paris.
Ole Miss will take on Boston College and either Oregon State or UConn during the Continental Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas before opening SEC play against Alabama State on Nov. 30.
Although the game against USC slipped out of reach for Ole Miss, the team will use this game and the others against ranked opponents to make them a better program.
"When you look at the program the way we've built the program, how we fought for national exposure and recognition, this is perfect," McPhee-McCuin said Wednesday. "I'm excited about the film, and I think I'm sure they would be too, just excited about getting films so that we can break it down and probably chew on it for as long as we can."