• If the Sooners want to make it

to the Elite 8,

they have to get past the Rebels’

tough defense

By Clay Horning

Transcript Sports Editor

DAYTON, Ohio — Ashley Awkward likely said it best.

“Our defense is our dictator,” said the Mississippi guard.

And not in the Mussolini sense, but in real fast sense.

“They would like to make it a track meet from one end to the other,” Oklahoma women’s coach Sherri Coale said of the Rebels.

Unranked and No. 7-seed Ole Miss meets ninth-ranked and No. 3 seed OU at 1:30 p.m. today in a Dayton Regional semifinal at University of Dayton Arena and the game within the game, at least going into the game, could not be more clear.

“Defense has been our main goal since Coach (Carol) Ross came here,” all-SEC selection Armintie Price said. “We made it a point of emphasis within ourselves that this is what we have to do. We’re not tall so we have to move fast and move with the ball. We take pride in our defense with trapping and causing chaos.”

Ole Miss helped to force 29 turnovers from defending national champion Maryland last week. It was the 20 the Terrapins committed in the first half that led to an advantage the Rebels never gave back on the way to an 89-78 victory.

Ole Miss doesn’t win every game in which it creates an abundance of turnovers. Tennessee committed 20 in Knoxville and beat the Rebels 81-69, while Kentucky turned it over 25 times in Oxford and still prevailed 69-61.

But the giveaways and the pace they can create give the Rebels a chance against top the nation’s best. They probably don’t beat Tennesse in Oxford or Kentucky in Lexington without getting 20 cough-ups from the Vols and 21 from the Wildcats.