By RENALDO DORSETT
Tribune Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
VALARIE Nesbitt had the breakout game head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin envisioned when she recruited the junior point guard to the Ole Miss Rebels.
Nesbitt finished with 12 points, eight assists, eight steals and six rebounds in the Rebels’ 73-56 win over Louisiana Tech Saturday.
She set career highs across the board in her fifth game as a Rebel. Ole Miss improved to 3-2 on the season.
“When you are coaching a young team like we are, you never know what to expect,” McPhee-McCuin said. “But I thought my coaching staff responded well to the challenge that was put in front of us. We’re figuring out who we are with this young group. We brought it defensively tonight, and that is what we have to be known for this year.”
Nesbitt’s defensive effort led Ole Miss in forcing 29 turnovers and they held La Tech to just 53 points, well below their previous season low of 80.
“We have to find each opponent’s weakness. Louisiana Tech is well-coached and they play really well when they are comfortable. So, we all decided to take them out of their rhythm, because that is where they are best. We decided to up our level of intensity and because of it, we were able to turn them over and get easy baskets,” McPhee-McCuin said.
“We really shared the ball. We are moving the ball. When you move the ball versus any type of defence, something is going to open up. You just have to be patient enough. Our staff found we were having turnovers because we were scared. We were having turnovers because we weren’t helping each other. So, we recognised where our turnovers were coming from, and looked at the turnovers we can get rid of.”
Ole Miss will return to the court tomorrow night seeking consecutive wins as they host Sam Houston State.
Another Bahamian , McPhee-McCuin recruit Shalonda Neely, had a breakout performance in her redshirt senior season for the Jacksonville Dolphins.
Neely scored a career high 17 points, five steals and grabbed six rebounds in an 87-43 win over USC Upstate.
“Shalonda played a heck of a game. She scored, she rebounded, she had five steals. That was really big for us. We set a goal on how many steals we wanted to get – about six or seven per quarter, if we can get that, we’re in good shape,” said Dolphins head coach Darnell Haney.
McPhee-McCuin recruited Neely out of Arlington Country Day.
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