Bahamian head coach of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Lady Rebels women's basketball program Yolett McPhee-McCuin is realizing dreams that the rest of the college basketball landscape could certainly appreciate and marvel about.
The former high school and junior national team player from The Bahamas is not only coaching at the highest level of collegiate basketball in the United States, but is accomplishing milestones and turning heads while doing so. On Sunday night, she led the Lady Rebels past the number one seeded team in the Seattle 4 Region, and three-time national champion, the Stanford Cardinal, and she did it on their home court – inside the Maples Pavilion in Stanford, California.
In a wire-to-wire victory, the region's eighth seeded Lady Rebels outlasted the top seeded Cardinal, 54-49, on Sunday night, reaching the Sweet 16 of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I (DI) Women's Basketball Tournament for the first time in 16 years.
"I have just an incredible amount of gratitude. I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thank my family, this team, we just love each other so much," said McPhee-McCuin to ESPN Sunday night. "We've been waiting for a big one. I'm on social media and everyone said Yo can't win the big one. For the team to be able to do this, I'm just full of gratitude. We make a lot of sacrifices and I'm so proud of our team. For us to be rewarded in this way, in this fashion, it means the world to me."
McPhee-McCuin has come a long way since starting her professional career at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, in 2004. Her first head coaching responsibility was at Jacksonville University in 2013, and she spent five years there before moving on to Ole Miss in 2018. She's now in her fifth season at Ole Miss and is currently experiencing her best season. Now, the Bahamian sports legend is just a couple wins away from advancing to the NCAA Final Four and just four wins away from winning it all.
"This is for the people with a dollar and dream," she said. "I'm a little girl from The Bahamas that was given an opportunity. I wasn't Ole Miss' first choice but I was the right one and I was naive enough to think that I could do it and that's what 'No Ceilings' mean. There's no limit. I'm just really proud to be the head coach here and we're going to Seattle. I love Seattle. Let's go."
The term 'No Ceilings' has been their driving force for the past three seasons. Competing in their second straight NCAA DI women's tournament, the Ole Miss Rebels are building on the experience of a year ago when they were knocked out in the first round. This year, in the first round, they easily took out the ninth seeded Gonzaga University Bulldogs, 71-48. The Lady Rebels relied heavily on defense, leading by as much as 28 points in the game against Gonzaga.
Sunday night's game was more of a challenge as they were up against the top seeded team in the region and three-time national champion. Not deterred, the Lady Rebels came out aggressively. They took control of the game early and led throughout the first half. They were up 18-13 after one and 29-20 at the half. The Rebels led by as much as 13 points in the third quarter before the Cardinal battles back, pulling to within 42-35 at the end of three. The Cardinal continued to come back, pulling even at 49 with 1:16 remaining in the fourth, but the Rebels scored the final five points of the game for the dramatic win.
Junior forward Madison Scott and senior guard Marquesha Davis made two free shots each and senior guard Myah Taylor added another to complete the scoring. The Rebels forced three turnovers in the final minute of the game. It was that kind of stellar defense that allowed them to overcome not making a field goal over the final 5:47 of the game, going 0-for-8.
The Cardinal had 14 straight Sweet 16 appearances and hadn't lost in the first or second rounds since 2007, which was exactly 16 years ago to the day on Sunday – March 19, 2007. Prior to the loss, Stanford had won 21 consecutive NCAA games on its home floor and have a 41-5 win/loss record all-time inside the Maples Pavilion during March Madness – the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.
Meanwhile, the upstart Rebels (25-8, 11-5 Southeastern Conference) will now move on to play another Cardinal, the fifth seeded Louisville Cardinals, in their NCAA Sweet 16 game, inside the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington, on Friday.
Bahamian Bryan Clarke, a sports performance assistant coach with the Houston Cougars, will be on the bench again when the region's top seeded team faces the region's fifth seeded Miami Hurricanes in their NCAA Sweet 16 game inside the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday. That game will be played at 7:15 p.m.
Also in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Bahamian Fredrick King and the South Region's sixth seeded Creighton University Bluejays will face the 'Cinderella' team of the tournament so far, the 15th seeded Princeton Tigers, in their Sweet 16 game on Friday. That game will be played at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and will get underway at 9 p.m.
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