By Billy Watkins
Minnesota’s 98-year-old basketball arena — appropriately nicknamed “The Barn” — once again was the site of an Ole Miss heartbreaking loss.
Senior Amaya Battle buried a contested jump shot with 0.8 seconds remaining to give Minnesota a 65-63 NCAA Tournament victory over the Rebels on Sunday.
Rebel sophomore Tianna Thompson’s long 3-point shot for the win bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.
Fourth-seeded Minnesota (24-8) advances to the Sweet 16.
Fifth-seeded Ole Miss ends its season 24-12.
This old building, officially named Williams Arena, also saw the final game in 1981 of the Ole Miss men’s team that featured the legendary trio of John Stroud, Elston Turner and Sean Tuohy. Minnesota also won that game by two.
The Barn and the packed crowd Sunday played their role.
“It was deafening,” said Minnesota’s veteran coach Dawn Plitzuweit. “It was deafening in warmups. I think it helped us get some stops.”
Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin went a step further. “I think their fans won them that game today,” she said. “I’m not discrediting their play or the awesome shot by the Battle kid at the end. You couldn’t hear. It was just an incredible environment.
“As I close out this year and look toward next year, the goal will be to host at home so we can have that same opportunity. That’s what’s next for this program.”
The game turned with 4:22 remaining and Ole Miss leading 59-54. Senior Cotie McMahon, statistically the Rebels’ best player, fouled out on a questionable charging call. The Gophers outscored Ole Miss 11-4 the rest of the way.
Battle, the defender on the play, chuckled postgame when asked about the charge.
“(McMahon) got a ton of buckets on us and on me because she was powering through,” Battle said. “So I said, ‘Alright, I’m just gonna try to fall and see what happens.”
She laughed, then said: “It worked out.”
“From my point of view, that call was incorrect,” McCuin said. “We watched it 1,500 times. One of the things I do understand is that officials are human. They’re human, so environments (cause) them to officiate a particular type of way.
“I don’t think that’s why we lost the game. I just know that Cotie is our leading scorer, newcomer of the year, all of the things . . .and she plays 20 minutes. It’s disappointing.”
Sophomore Sira Thienou led the Rebels with 18 points. She also had five rebounds, two assists and a steal. McMahon, the senior transfer from Ohio State, finished her career with 15 points. Senior Christeen Iwuala, a former UCLA Bruin, led with eight rebounds.
Mara Braun led Minnesota with 17 points — 11 in the first half — and Battle added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Ole Miss trailed 32-29 at halftime as Minnesota shot 50 percent from the field and the Rebels just 32 percent. But McCuin’s defense-first squad stepped up to take a 54-46 lead entering the fourth.
Minnesota took a 63-61 lead with 18 seconds left. Senior Latasha Lattimore tied the game on a baseline drive and layup with 3.5 seconds left.
Ole Miss, playing in its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament, will lose seven seniors off this year’s team.
“I saw where somebody wrote that we will have to rebuild,” McCuin said. “We don’t rebuild at Ole Miss. We lost six seniors last year and had the best start we’ve ever had in my 10 years here.”
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