Vanderbilt 75, UC Riverside 60

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jence Rhoads scored 14 points to help No. 22 Vanderbilt beat UC Riverside 75-60 on Friday night, avenging a loss to the Highlanders last season.
Vanderbilt (3-0) took a 20-point halftime lead behind 10 points from Rhoads on 5-of-6 shooting from the field and six points from Jessica Mooney.

The Commodores held UC Riverside (1-3) to only one free throw and no field goals for 8:40 after leading just 21-15 midway through the first half.

Hannah Tuomi added 11 points for Vanderbilt.

Rhaya Neabors, with three 3-pointers, and Marissa Rivera each had 13 points for Riverwide. Amber Cox scored 11 points.

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Women's Basketball Goes Cold from the Floor and Falls at No. 25 Pitt

PITTSBURGH, PA -- The University of Florida women’s basketball team had expectations of being a solid outside shooting team when the season began, however, the Gators didn’t find their shot until very late Friday evening, as they missed their first 12 from the three-point arc and dug themselves a hole they couldn’t dig out of and lost to Pittsburgh, 81-58, in the Petersen Events Center.

The Gators (1-2) actually heated up to hit 7-of-25 (28 percent) from long range and 21-of-59 (35.6 percent) overall, playing even ball in the second half.

Pittsburgh (2-0), ranked No. 25 in the ESPN-USA Today Coaches Poll and receiving votes in the Associated Press rankings, shot 46.9 percent from the floor during the night, including a 7-of-15 effort from the three-point arc, with all seven makes coming during the decisive first half.

Florida missed all 12 of its three-point shots from beyond the arc during the first half and connected on just 30 percent overall, while Pitt nailed 7-of-13 from long range, 17-of-34 overall, as the Panthers assumed a commanding 43-20 half time lead.

Taneisha Harrison accounted for 20 of her career-high 25 points in the first-half for Pitt, which scored 11 points off of eight turnovers in the opening frame. The undersized Gators did hold their own on the boards in the first 20 minutes, trailing just 21-20.

For the first nine and half minutes, the Gators battled hard, answering every Panther run with one of their own. With Pitt holding a 14-10 lead, Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) sank a pair of free throws and Susan Yenser (Marietta, Ga.) canned an eight-footer from the side to tied the score at 14-all with 10:34 remaining in the first half.

That’s when Pitt ripped off a 12-0 run over the next five-plus minutes and took a 26-14 lead. Ndidi Madu (Antioch, Tenn.) halted the spree with a jumper in the paint at the 5:04 mark, but Jania Sims came right back with a 3-pointer. Trumae Lucas (Greensboro, N.C.) followed with a floating layup on a nice assist from Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.), but again Pitt answered with six straight points, before Jones could hit a 14-footer for the Gators with 2:27 on the clock. Those were the last points of the half for Florida, as Pitt closed the period scoring the last eight to take the 23-point lead.

"We had a lot of problems tonight and one was our effort. It was disappointing from the beginning," UF head coach Amanda Butler said. "Our shots didn’t fall and we didn’t prepare well enough on all fronts and Pitt just kicked our butt.

"The missed shots were certainly a problem, but when Pitt can score 43 points in the first 20 minutes of play, it’s a bigger problem because we’ve experience a game already when our shots haven’t fallen and we were able to count on our defense. Tonight we couldn’t do that at all," Butler continued.

Pitt scored the first five points of the second half, quelling any energy the Gators may have generated in the locker room.

Jones, who tallied a four-point play with 8:40 remaining in the game, scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half, while adding five assists and two steals in 31 minutes of action. Yenser added 11 points and Sharielle Smith (Bradenton, Fla.) tallied 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting for the Gators, who were outscored 38-14 in the paint.

"I felt like we had two good days of preparation, but clearly I was wrong and we will correct that," Butler said. "I don’t think that we were ready to come in here and compete on someone else’s home floor. Our first road game and we didn’t have the right mentality or the right approach."

Pitt led by as many as 39 points midway through the second half, but the Gators never gave up and dropped the final deficit to 23 points.

"We have to figure out who wants to fight and who wants to battle," Butler added. "We saw some good things from some of our young players. They got out there and hustled. They took advantage of their time on the floor, but we’re not going to beat a team like Pitt with four freshmen on the floor."

Harrison’s 25 points led five Panthers in double-figure scoring, with Jania Sims adding 16 and Chelsea Cole tallying 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Gators return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 24, when they play host to UAB in the O’Connell Center beginning at 4:30 p.m. The game is the first of four UF basketball doubleheaders this season, with the Gator men’s team hosting Florida State at 7 p.m.

Tuesday’s game will air live on the radio at WBXY-FM 99.5 in Gainesville, as well as through the internet at www.GatorZone.com, which also will provide live streaming video of the game.

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Rebels Defeat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 98-56

OXFORD, Miss. - All-SEC guard Bianca Thomas tied a career-high with 31 points and hit six three-pointers as Ole Miss improved to 3-0 with a 98-56 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Friday afternoon in the team's annual School Day Game from Tad Smith Coliseum.

Thomas' six triples is tied for the fourth-most in school history and is the third time in her career she has hit at least six three-pointers. In fact, Thomas tied the school record for the most three-pointers in a game after hitting seven last season at Mississippi State.

Shantell Black finished with 16 points, a game-high nine assists and three rebounds, which included a deep three-pointer at the end of the first half to beat the buzzer. Kayla Melson added 13 points and eight assists and has now scored in double figures in each of the first three games. She has also tallied at least eight assists in every game this season and leads the SEC with 9.3 assists per game.

As a team, Ole Miss finished with 26 assists and has posted at least 24 helpers in every game thus far this season. Nine of the 11 Ole Miss players tallied at least one assist.

Sophomore Nikki Byrd collected 13 points and grabbed four rebounds and helped the Rebels hold a 36-12 advantage in points in the paint.

"I thought it was another great team effort and an opportunity for a lot of people to play and see where they are right now," Ole Miss head coach Renee Ladner said. "I thought my point guards handled the ball very well and had very few turnovers, and I hope this is a confidence builder for my entire team."

Arkansas-Pine Bluff guard Amanda Hammond paced the Golden Lions with 15 points and three assists, while both Rekevia Brown and Tashayla Jackson finished with 10 points apiece.

Ole Miss (3-0) built an 18-2 lead over the first five minutes of the game and capitalized on six Arkansas-Pine Bluff turnovers during the stretch. The Golden Lions committed 26 turnovers in the game and allowed the Rebels to turn those miscues into 40 points.

The Rebels held Arkansas-Pine Bluff under 10 points for the first 13 minutes of the half and limited the Golden Lions to just eight field goals in the opening stanza.

Brown hit her second three-pointer of the first half to cut the Ole Miss lead to 16 points with 2:39 remaining, but the Rebels closed the half with a 10-0 run to up their lead to 27 points heading into halftime.

Ole Miss continued to pull away in the second half and would go on to lead by as many as 48 points. In their three wins this season, the Rebels are posting an average margin of victory of 38 points.

The Rebels return to action Tuesday at noon when Ole Miss travels to Tucson, Ariz., to take on the Arizona Wildcats in the first meeting between the two schools since the 1989-90 season.



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