Andrea Adelson
Multiple Authors
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph was ejected during an 89-78 loss to Ole Miss in the quarterfinals of the SEC women’s basketball tournament Friday night, likely ending the Commodores’ slim chances at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Ole Miss did a number on the fifth-ranked Commodores defensively from the start of the game, flustering and frustrating SEC Player of the Year Mikayla Blakes and her teammates through the first three quarters as the Rebels built a lead as large as 32 points.
Then early in the fourth, Blakes was whistled for her fourth foul and Ralph had enough, yelling at officials with enough choice words that she was ejected. During the broadcast she could be heard questioning the call and telling officials, “You suck.”
“I wasn’t trying to get kicked out,” Ralph said. “I also think that at that time, what I said was warranted, and the action that I took was warranted, and I’ll stand behind that. You want to kick me out for it, they can kick me out. What I do love is the fight that my team showed. There’s only so many ways you can say something over and over again, so I said it differently, and I got kicked out, which is fine.”
When asked why what she did was warranted, Ralph said, “Don’t try to get me fined,” before adding, “As coaches, we just want consistency from our team, from our staff, from everybody that’s involved in the game. That’s all I’m looking for.”
Later, when asked about Blakes’ struggles early in the game, Ralph said, “I thought she was fouled. She was being held, and there’s only so many ways you can respond to that. What I know about her is that she is going to fight to win the game. And that kid fought until the very end.”
Blakes had one point in the first half on 0-of-10 shooting and finished with 24 points. She scored 13 alone in the fourth quarter, helping spark the Commodores after Ralph got ejected. Vanderbilt showed new life from that point forward but could never close the gap to single digits.
Ralph joked, “Maybe I should have gotten kicked out sooner in terms of the way that they played, the fight that they showed.”
Still, Ralph said the result does not change anything for Vanderbilt as it heads into the NCAA tournament, except that it maybe added a little extra motivation, given the result.
“This changes nothing about our season, changes nothing about what we’ve done,” Ralph said, “and I think it only adds fuel to the fire for what’s ahead.”
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