Ole Miss Rebels women’s basketball has found ways to overcome adversity this season.

The Rebels entered the year ranked No. 20 in the nation before losing a nail-biter to USC in Paris to open up the season and suffering close losses to NC State, UConn, Texas A&M and Alabama. But despite that, the Rebels have won two straight in SEC play, earning a 4-2 mark in the conference, good for fifth place.

Despite some close losses, that didn’t affect the Rebels on Sunday as Ole Miss took down rival Mississippi State 71-63 in Starkville.

“Incredible atmosphere today. It’s like a rivalry game should be,” head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said in an interview postgame. “We’re no stranger to it. I’m really happy for this group.”

Although the Rebels currently sit unranked, a solid month and a half remain in conference play. And a winning record in one of the toughest conferences in basketball is nothing to look down on.

“Every year, every season, there’s a turning point, something happens that defines your team and who they want to be for the rest of the season,” Coach Yo said. “If you’ve followed us, we’ve been in close game, lost some, been ahead, been behind. But this we we had to ‘gut out,’ and we knew that.”

The Rebels have been within eight points in all five of their losses, with the biggest losses (seven points) coming against then-No. 2 UConn and NC State, both nationally-ranked teams as of the most recent AP Poll. The Rebels are one of the most competitive teams in the SEC, and Sunday’s win showed that. There is still plenty of time for the 2024 Ole Miss women’s basketball team to write its story.

The next chapter comes next Sunday as the Rebels host No. 7 Texas in the SJB Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN.

Arctic air is bringing bitterly cold temperatures and dangerous driving conditions to Mississippi this week.

Mississippi woke up to chilly temperatures this morning, but that’s just the opening act. Temperatures are expected to drop into the teens and lower this week and parts of the state, including the Mississippi Coast, could see 2-4 inches of snow.

According to the National Weather Service, light snow is expected as for north as the South Delta with accumulation becoming heavier moving south. South Mississippi is under a Significant Threat with accumulations up to 4 inches on Tuesday with dangerous driving conditions and power outages expected.

The entire states faces dangerous cold with the low expected to be around 9 degrees in Oxford on Wednesday morning and 18 degrees along the Mississippi Coast. Overnight temperatures well below freezing are expected to linger across the state for several days including the Jackson and Central Mississippi areas.

Here are the expected temperatures according to the National Weather Service as of 5 a.m. Monday.

Revised forecast: Potential of heavy snow across much of Mississippi. See projections

Jackson

• Tuesday: Low 22 degrees, high 34 degrees, 50% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 13 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 20 degrees, high 48 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 51 degrees
• Saturday: Low 28 degrees, high 59 degrees

Southaven

• Tuesday: Low 21 degrees, high 27 degrees
• Wednesday: Low 14 degrees, high 36 degrees
• Thursday: Low 23 degrees, high 44 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 45 degrees
• Saturday: Low 31 degrees, high 53 degrees

Corinth

• Tuesday: Low 18 degrees, high 28 degrees
• Wednesday: Low 10 degrees, high 36 degrees
• Thursday: Low 19 degrees, high 45 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 44 degrees
• Saturday: Low 27 degrees, high 52 degrees

More: Arctic blast to bring bitterly cold temps to MS. What are the record lows in the state?

Oxford

• Tuesday: Low 17 degrees, high 29 degrees
• Wednesday: Low 9 degrees, high 37 degrees
• Thursday: Low 18 degrees, high 44 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 45 degrees
• Saturday: Low 27 degrees, high 55 degrees

Greenville

• Tuesday: Low 23 degrees, high 32 degrees
• Wednesday: Low 16 degrees, high 39 degrees
• Thursday: Low 24 degrees, high 48 degrees
• Friday: Low 26 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 31 degrees, high 57 degrees

Greenwood

• Tuesday: Low 21 degrees, high 33 degrees
• Wednesday: Low 14 degrees, high 40 degrees
• Thursday: Low 22 degrees, high 48 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 30 degrees, high 58 degrees

Starkville

• Tuesday: Low 18 degrees, high 33 degrees, 20% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 11 degrees, high 39 degrees
• Thursday: Low 19 degrees, high 47 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 48 degrees
• Saturday: Low 26 degrees, high 56 degrees

Yazoo City

• Tuesday: Low 22 degrees, high 32 degrees, 30% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 15 degrees, high 39 degrees
• Thursday: Low 22 degrees, high 47 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 30 degrees, high 57 degrees

Philadelphia

• Tuesday: Low 19 degrees, high 33 degrees, 40% chance of snow with little or no accumulation
• Wednesday: Low 11 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 18 degrees, high 47 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 49 degrees
• Saturday: Low 26 degrees, high 56 degrees

Vicksburg

• Tuesday: Low 22 degrees, high 33 degrees, 40% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 13 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 20 degrees, high 48 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 52 degrees
• Saturday: Low 29 degrees, high 60 degrees

Meridian

• Tuesday: Low 20 degrees, high 33 degrees, 60% precipitation, snow accumulation less than 1/2 inch
• Wednesday: Low 12 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 19 degrees, high 47 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 25 degrees, high 56 degrees

Natchez

• Tuesday: Low 23 degrees, high 31 degrees, 70% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 13 degrees, high 38 degrees
• Thursday: Low 19 degrees, high 45 degrees
• Friday: Low 25 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 30 degrees, high 58 degrees

Brookhaven

• Tuesday: Low 22 degrees, high 32 degrees, 80% chance of snow
• Wednesday: Low 11 degrees, high 39 degrees
• Thursday: Low 17 degrees, high 46 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 26 degrees, high 57 degrees

Hattiesburg

• Tuesday: Low 23 degrees, high 33 degrees, 80% chance of snow with 1-3 inches accumulation
• Wednesday: Low 13 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 18 degrees, high 46 degrees
• Friday: Low 23 degrees, high 51 degrees
• Saturday: Low 25 degrees, high 57 degrees

Wiggins

• Tuesday: Low 25 degrees, high 32 degrees, 90% chance of snow with 2-4 inches accumulation
• Wednesday: Low 15 degrees, high 41 degrees
• Thursday: Low 19 degrees, high 46
• Friday: Low 24 degrees, high 50 degrees
• Saturday: Low 26 degrees, high 57 degrees

Biloxi

• Tuesday: Low 26 degrees, high 34 degrees, 90% chance of snow with 2-4 inches accumulation and additional snow, freezing rain Tuesday night
• Wednesday: Low 18 degrees, high 40 degrees
• Thursday: Low 22 degrees, high 46 degrees
• Friday: Low 27 degrees, high 51 degrees
• Saturday: Low 31 degrees, high 57 degrees

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

The Ole Miss Rebels encountered their first bump in the road in SEC play as they suffered a loss to in-state foe Mississippi State on Saturday night.

One noticeably missing piece to Saturday’s game was trasnfer center Malik Dia, who has been dominant since conference play began.

Dia saw struggles earlier on this season, seeing limited minutes due to foul trouble, but this was not the case as he only had one personal foul in his 18 minutes of play.

Dia finished the game with eight points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal, but he also struggled to hold onto the ball, recording four turnovers.

Rebels head coach Chris Beard spoke postgame on why he veered away from the big man, even taking some blame for limiting Dia’s minutes.

“We need Dia to to play, and we need him to play well,” Beard said. “Should he have played more today? Maybe. Probably. Those are decisions coaches have to make. What we were doing was obviously working.

“We got back in the game, we had a chance to win the game, the game went to overtime, but certainly Dia is one of our best players. He needs to be on the court for us.”

Coming into the matchup, DIa has averaged 17.5 points per game and 10 rebounds, including his season-high 23 points matched with his career-high 19 rebounds earlier this week in a win over Alabama.

Ole Miss is set to take on Texas A&M at home on Wednesday where Beard could look back to the first-year Reb to provide a spark in Ole Miss’ first home game in 11 days. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.