ORONO – Mississippi’s Tarsha Bethley played only two minutes during the first half of Saturday night’s Dead River Co. championship game against Maine. In the end, her early foul trouble may have been a blessing in disguise.

The All-Southeastern Conference pick scored 10 points in the final 2:02 of the second half, then sparked her team in overtime as Ole Miss rallied for a 77-72 victory at Alfond Arena.

Bethley provided 25 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in 25 minutes and was named the tournament MVP. Her energy and the Rebels’ superior depth appeared to take a toll on the 2-1 Bears in the late going.

“It seemed like at that time [late in the game] our depth may have made a little difference as far as fresh legs, execution, several things,” said Ole Miss coach Ron Aldy, whose 4-1 Rebels unleashed trapping and full-court pressure to help jump-start their comeback.

Bethley’s heroics dulled a brilliant performance by Maine forward Jamie Cassidy, who hit 10 of 11 shots after intermission en route to a career-high 38 points. Cassidy, who grabbed 10 rebounds, was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Kristen McCormick, Mississippi’s Frankie Boyd and Melissa Fazio of St. Bonaventure.

Mississippi, which had squandered a 13-point first-half lead, rallied from 10 points down in the last 3:17 of regulation to send the game into overtime. The Rebels then used their defensive pressure to score three easpull away in the extra period.

“We didn’t execute nearly as well as we would have liked,” said Maine coach Joanne Palombo-McCallie.

“[The key is] building on that endurance and doing it for 40 minutes and really keeping that intensity,” added Palombo, who pointed to Maine’s poor start and its need to expend energy making a comeback as factors in sapping the Bears’ energy reserves.

Aldy utilized 12 players, nine of whom played at least 13 minutes. Maine, depleted by injuries and illness, played nine, four of whom logged 31 minutes or more and one who was in for 16 seconds.

Bears point guard Amy Vachon played the entire contest before fouling out with 16.6 seconds left in overtime. McCormick, who had gotten in only one full practice coming off a two-week layoff with an ankle sprain, played 32 minutes.

Vachon made no excuses.

“Honestly, I was fine,” she said. “At the end of the game, you’re not really thinking about how tired you are or anything, you’re just going out there and trying to put them away. Unfortunately, in overtime we didn’t execute like we wanted to, but I really think that we’re going to improve from this and learn from it.”

Trailing 59-49, Ole Miss turned up the intensity at both ends. Bethley fed Heather Bantz for a 3-pointer and, after a Vachon free throw, dished off to Boyd for a conventional three-point play.

Martina Tinklova made one of two foul shots at the other end, but Bethley’s rainbow 3-pointer sliced Maine’s lead to 61-58 with 2:02 left. After a Rebel timeout, Tinklova hit two free throws, pushing the lead back to five points.

Bethley was superb down the stretch, hitting a foul-line jumper at the 1:07 mark, then making one of two from the line after Maine’s Kizzy Lopez was called for an illegal screen. Ole Miss’ full-court pressure produced a steal and layup by Bethley that made it 63-63 with 36.7 seconds left.

After the teams traded turnovers, Vachon lobbed over the press to Tinklova for an easy layup that kept Maine in front.

However, Bethley rebounded her own missed 3-pointer and scored from the baseline with four seconds left, sending the game into overtime.

“We’ve called on [Bethley] the entire last year and already early this year to try to do, sometimes, more than one person should have to do,” Aldy said. “But that’s her typical job as far as stepping up and rising to the occassion.”

Maine’s struggles continued in overtime, when the Rebels’ pressure defense caused four turnovers. Leading 70-69, Ole Miss scored on a Sinissia Wysinger layup, Bethley’s rebound hoop and a steal-layup combo by Bethley, all during a span of 56 seconds, building a seven-point lead the Bears could not overcome.

Tinklova contributed 11 points and five rebounds for Maine, which committed 23 turnovers. Lopez added nine points and nine boards, Vachon six points and six assists.

Boyd finished with 10 points for the Rebels, while Takela Corbitt added nine points, five assists and three steals.

Ole Miss pulled out to an 18-5 lead with Bethley on the bench. Boyd and Stephanie Murphy had four points each in the early surge.

The Bears rallied behind tight defense and the aggressive play of Lopez, who scored six points and snatched six rebounds to spark a 17-3 run that gave the hosts a 22-21 halftime lead.

“I think the point that’s important is the beginning of the game,” Palombo said. “We really shouldn’t have been down that many, I don’t believe, and we were. We had to expend a great deal of energy at that time.”

Cassidy dominated the second half after going 4-for-11 with four turnovers in the first half. She scored Maine’s first 15 points after the break, then 3-pointers by McCormick and Lopez gave the Bears a 43-38 lead.

“I got a little bit frustrated in the first half,” Cassidy admitted. “I had some turnovers and I think I kind of let that get to me. I just wanted to come out in the second half and play as hard as I could and do whatever it took to help the team out.”

Cassidy later made two foul shots and a conventional three-point play, while Tinklova hit two free throws and McCormick buried another 3-pointer, as Maine pushed its lead to 55-43 with 5:17 left. That’s when Bethley and the Rebels countered with relentless defense that wore Maine down.

In the consolation game, St. Bonaventure handled North Carolina-Charlotte 78-52.

Rebels 77, Bears 72 (OT)

Mississippi (4-1) Maine (2-1)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Bethley 10 15 3 9 25 Bowman 0 2 0 0 0

Vollrath 1 3 2 2 5 A. Clark 0 0 0 0 0

Boyd 4 7 2 3 10 Cassidy 14 22 9 9 38

Corbitt 2 8 4 4 9 Guerrette 0 0 0 0 0

Myatt 2 11 0 0 6 Vachon 1 4 4 6 6

Bantz 2 5 0 0 6 McCormick 3 11 0 0 8

Wysinger 2 7 0 0 4 Lopez 3 6 1 2 9

Murphy 3 6 0 0 6 Tinklova 2 8 7 8 11

Dorsey 0 3 0 0 0 Macream 0 0 0 0 0

Signaigo 0 0 0 0 0

Gadd 3 4 0 0 6

Bolden 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 29 69 11 18 77 Totals 23 53 21 25 72

Mississippi 21 65 77

Maine 22 65 72

3-pt. goals: Ole Miss (8-29): Bethley 2-6, Vollrath 1-3, Corbitt 1-5, Myatt 2-8, Bantz 2-5, Dorsey 0-2; Maine (5-17): Bowman 0-1, Cassidy 1-2, Vachon 0-2, McCormick 2-8, Lopez 2-4