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Holloway's layup lifts Ole Miss over LSU in 3 OTs

Feb 7, 2010 - 10:39 PM BATON ROUGE, La.(AP) -- It took three overtimes and some tremendous plays for Mississippi to finally end a 16-year drought at LSU.

Kayla Holloway's layup with 11 seconds left in the third overtime lifted Ole Miss to a wild 102-101 win over No. 19 LSU on Sunday.

The Rebels (15-8, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1994. In addition, Ole Miss won two games in a single season against the Lady Tigers for the first time since 1985.

"Any time you go on the road and can find a way to dig one out, it is big," Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner said. "This was a game that wouldn't end. It was a slugfest to say the least. If anyone had to lose that game, it was going to be extremely hard. It would be heart-breaking for either team. On this particular day, we came up with the win."

After the layup, Mississippi fouled Katherine Graham with five seconds left. She made the first free throw, but missed the second causing a wild scramble for the ball. It ended up in Graham's hands, but she missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.

Bianca Thomas led Ole Miss with 29 points. Elizabeth Robertson, who made a career-high seven 3-pointers, added a career-high 25 points. Kayla Melson added 20 points and 10 assists.

Allison Hightower, who left the game with cramps early in the second overtime, led LSU (15-7, 4-6) with 31 points. LaSondra Barrett added 23. Graham finished with a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

The only other Lady Tigers player to register to a triple-double was Cornelia Gayden, who accomplished the feat twice in 1995.

"We came back off death row twice with long shots," LSU coach Van Chancellor said. I thought about three times we were going to win the game, but we just couldn't do it."

Melson's 3-pointer put Ole Miss ahead 93-90 with 3:51 left in the third overtime. Nearly a minute later, LSU's Bianca Lutley tied the score at 95 with a 3-pointer.

The Rebels' Bianca Thomas and the Lady Tigers' Taylor Turnbow exchanged baskets. A 3-pointer by Destini Hughes gave LSU a 100-97 lead. Robertson answered with a 3-pointer setting up the fantastic finish.

Trailing 90-87 with 6 seconds left in the second overtime, Graham hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and force the third extra session.

It was the first triple overtime game involving a ranked team since then-No. 18 New Mexico played New Mexico State in 2005 according to STATS LLC.