Ole Miss women's basketball beats Colorado, advances to WNIT Final Four

Ole Miss women's basketball is on to the Final Four.

Ole Miss (14-11) beat Colorado 65-56 on Monday night to advance to the semifinals of the women's NIT this weekend. The Rebels charged to victory behind a 28-10 second quarter run, 13 offensive rebounds and a 4-for-10 performance from the 3-point line.

The Rebels will face Northern Iowa on Friday.

Ole Miss has been with its coach, Yolett McPhee-McCuin, for the entire tournament after she tested positive for COVID-19 the Tuesday prior. McPhee-McCuin went into isolation and was experiencing mild symptoms last week.

The Rebels were led by interim coach Shay Robinson on Monday night.

"We knew even if we did get a lead they were going to come back swinging, get in that buzz and try to get us uncomfortable," Robinson said. "But I'm so proud of this team. I'm so proud of this staff coming together and us upholding the standard."

All-SEC forward Shakira Austin logged her third double-double in three NIT games. She scored 12 points with 10 rebounds. Guard Donnetta Johnson led the team with 15 points. Freshman All-SEC guard Snudda Collins scored 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting from 3-point distance, and the SEC Freshman of the Year Madison Scott had 11 points and 12 rebounds. 

IN THE TOURNEY:Ole Miss women's basketball opens NIT against Samford in Memphis on Friday

OUT OF THE TOURNEY:These 10 misses and 100 awful seconds kept Ole Miss women's basketball out of NCAA Tournament

Ole Miss led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter but Colorado brought the deficit to as few as three points with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Colorado had a chance to tie the score after an Ole Miss turnover ,but Scott and Johnson blocked a pair of shots to set up Ole Miss to start making free throws to ice away the win.

"Let's go! That's what was going through my head," Scott said. "I was fired up. My team was fired up. I was just ready to go and ready to get the w

The WNIT semifinals begin on Friday in Collierville, Tennessee. The winner of Ole Miss-Northern Iowa will face the winner of Delaware versus Rice for the WNIT championship. The two Final Four games will be played Friday at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.