Cotie McMahon set a new personal and venue record by scoring 39 points to lead No. 17 Ole Miss women’s basketball to a 94-81 win over No. 21 Tennessee at the SJB Pavilion on Tuesday night.
McMahon’s performance tied her with Eugenia Conner and Peggie Gillom for the third-highest single-game point total in Ole Miss history, trailing only Gillom and Bianca Thomas. Her 39 points also established a new scoring record for the SJB Pavilion, surpassing Crystal Allen’s previous mark of 34 set in 2019. The game marked the highest individual point total in an SEC contest this season.
With this victory, Ole Miss (21-6, 8-4 SEC) has now won two of its last three games against Tennessee (16-8, 8-4 SEC). The Rebels’ 94 points were their most ever scored against Tennessee, breaking their prior high by 11 points.
McMahon reached another milestone during the game by becoming just the fifth player in program history to score at least 2,000 career points. She joins Peggie and Jennifer Gillom, Armintie Price, and Angel Baker as members of this group. Both McMahon and Baker achieved this after transferring to Ole Miss.
“Congratulations Cotie for getting 2,000 career points! She becomes just the fifth Rebel in program history to reach this milestone,” stated an announcement from Ole Miss Women’s Basketball.
This season, McMahon has recorded at least 20 points in a game on sixteen occasions—tied for fifth-most in a single season by any Rebel player and the most since Bianca Thomas had nineteen such games during the 2009-10 campaign. In addition to her scoring output against Tennessee, McMahon added ten rebounds and five assists, making her the first Rebel in twenty-five seasons with at least thirty-five points and ten rebounds in one game.
Latasha Lattimore contributed fourteen points and twelve rebounds for her fourth consecutive double-double—a feat last accomplished by Shakira Austin during the 2020-21 season. Christeen Iwuala added sixteen points and five rebounds while Tianna Thompson scored twelve off the bench.
McMahon needed only one field goal early in the game to surpass the career milestone of two thousand points. She made that shot less than three minutes into play. Throughout the first quarter she also distributed three assists as Ole Miss built an early lead through strong defense; Tennessee was held to four-for-seventeen shooting in that period.
By halftime, McMahon led all players with sixteen points and seven rebounds as Ole Miss maintained an eleven-point advantage. The Rebels continued their defensive pressure into the second half while expanding their lead behind contributions from Thienou and Thompson.
In response to several late-game three-pointers from Tennessee, Ole Miss consistently answered with baskets of its own. McMahon sealed her historic night with a late three-pointer followed by four free throws to reach thirty-nine points as time expired.
Ole Miss will next face No. 6 LSU at home on February 19 at SJB Pavilion; tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT with broadcast coverage on ESPN.
Single-game tickets for upcoming contests are available via OleMissTix.com.
“Congratulations Cotie for getting 2,000 career points! She becomes just the fifth Rebel in program history to reach this milestone,” said representatives from Ole Miss Women’s Basketball.
