The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Basketball To Host West Alabama
11/20/2000 | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2000
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Ole Miss will host Division II member West Alabama in its home opener Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in Tad Smith Coliseum. This will be the third game for both teams.
ALDY BEGINS FOURTH YEAR
Ron Aldy is in his fourth year as the person in charge of rebuilding Ole Miss women's basketball back to where it once was. Aldy has dedicated himself to making Ole Miss a winner on and off the court. After a difficult first season, Aldy guided the team to its 23rd winning season in 199 and a return trip to postseason play. Following a return to postseason play two years ago, the ship appeared to be headed in the right direction for Ole Miss women's basketball. The 1999-2000 season was sailing along with a 10-2 start in non-conference action. Then the Lady Rebels hit SEC play, where they lost seven games by 10 points or less. Injuries began to mount, and the Lady Rebels were unable to get the ship back on course. With more determination and motivation, the Lady Rebels look ahead to the 2000-01 season. Off the court, the Lady Rebels have made tremendous strides academically and in the community. In 1999, Ole Miss led the league with six players named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll and in 2000 were second with six. Since Aldy got here, five players have received their bachelor's degrees.
NEW STAFF ON BOARD
During the offseason, Aldy added two new members to the Lady Rebel staff. Gil Thompson joined the program as an assistant coach and Aldy says he (Thompson) should pay dividends in recruiting for the future of the program. Thompson came to Ole Miss from Raymond, Miss., where he spent the past season as the head coach of the Girls team. Thompson led the Rangerettes to a 33-5 overall record and the 4A State Championship, the first in the school's history. Drew Clinton is on board in the capacity of Administrative Assistant. Clinton, a native of Olive Branch, Miss., spent the past four years serving as the Sports Manager for the national Amateur Athletic Association in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
LADY REBELS MOVING
The Lady Rebels are moving - well in a way. For the past 15 years, all Lady Rebel home games have been broadcast on WQLJ Q93.7 FM. This year the Lady Rebel games will be broadcast on WTNM Supertalk Mississippi (105.5 FM), with each broadcast beginning 15 minutes prior to the scheduled tip-off. Gary Darby returns for his ninth season as the ?Voice of the Lady Rebels?.
OLE MISS CAPTURES HOWARD BANK CLASSIC
The Lady Rebels, behind the stellar guard play of Becky Myatt Von Kirk, and Sherika Wright, captured the Vermont Howard Bank Classic this past weekend in Burlington, Vt. Myatt scored 23 points including two key three-pointers at the end of the game to lead the Lady Rebels to an 85-75 win over Vermont in the championship game. She also had seven rebounds to earn tournament MVP honors. Kirk, who tallied 17 points was also named to the All-Tournament team. Wright scored in double digits both nights with 20 and 16 points respectively. Ole Miss downed Radford University in the first round 91-62.
MYATT GARNERS SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Senior guard Becky Myatt was rewarded again, for her outstanding play in the Vermont Howard Bank Classic by being named the SEC Player of the Week. Myatt averaged 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists. She sank two crucial three-pointers with just over four minutes remaining in the championship game to seal the title for the Lady Rebels. Myatt is the ninth Lady Rebel to be named SEC Player of the Week and the first since Tarsha Bethley earned the honor in November of 1998.
OLE MISS SUCCESSFUL IN REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS
With their Howard Bank Classic title, the Lady Rebels have won 35 regular season tournament titles. Ole Miss now owns a 105-26 record in regular season tournaments. The Lady Rebels downed Radford University 91-62 in the first round and then defeated Vermont 85-75 in the championship game.
SEASON OPENERS
The Lady Rebels have compiled an impressive record in season openers in the history of the program. With their win over Radford, they improved to 23-4 in season-opening games.
ROAD OPENERS
The Lady Rebels improved to 20-5 all-time in road openers with their 85-75 win over Vermont in the championship game of the Howard Bank Classic.
HOME OPENERS
The Lady Rebels are near perfect in home openers in the history of the program with a 24-2 record.
HOME SWEET HOME
Tad Smith Coliseum has been a good home for the Lady Rebels. Over the last 25 seasons. The Lady Rebels have compiled an impressive 282-55 record for an incredible winning percentage of .841. In their 25 seasons in Tad Smith Coliseum, the Lady Rebels have had four undefeated home seasons in 1978-79 (11-0), 1981-82 (17-0), 1983-84 (13-0) and 1991-92 (14-0).
SCOUTING WEST ALABAMA
Ole Miss meets West Alabama Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the first meeting ever between the two schools. West Alabama is from Division II and a member of the Gulf South Conference. The Tigers finished the 1999-00 season with a 15-11 record and finished third in their league at 10-4. This past weekend they went 0-2 at the Florida Southern Tournament, losing to Florida Southern 75-42 and then to Tuskegee 84-78 in overtime. West Alabama senior forward Jamie Bender came off the bench to average 16 points and 10.5 rebounds in the tournament. Freshman center Kala Peak averaged 9.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in both games.
OLE MISS VS. ALABAMA SCHOOLS
Ole Miss has a 48-34 record (.564 winning percentage) versus schools from the state of Alabama, and own a winning record in seven of the series. The following is a list of the schools from Alabama that Ole Miss has played and their records against those schools.
| Team | Record | |
| Alabama | 22-10 | |
| UAB | 4-3 | |
| Alabama-Huntsville | 1-0 | |
| Auburn | 16-19 | |
| Montevallo | 1-0 | |
| South Alabama | 2-0 | |
| Talladega | 1-0 | |
| Troy State | 1-0 | |
| Total | 48-35 | |
| (.564 winning percentage) |
LADY REBELS FROM ALABAMA
The Lady Rebels have two players on this year's team from the state of Alabama. Junior Von Kirk hails from Huntsville, Ala. and TaShondrea Moton, also a junior, comes from Prattville, Ala. West Alabama has two player on its roster from Mississippi. Senior Valerie Thomas is from Vossburg, Miss., and senior Jamie Bender hails from Baldwyn, Miss.
MYATT NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-SEC TEAM
Senior guard Becky Myatt was named to the 2000-01 preseason All-SEC second team. The team was voted on by the media members attending SEC Media Days Nov. 1-2 in Birmingham. Myatt is one of six guards on either the first or second team. Myatt averaged 9.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last year. She ranked among the top five in the SEC in three-pointers per game.
COULD IT BE ANOTHER GRAND PLAYER?
With her 29 points in the Vermont Howard Bank Classic, senior guard Becky Myatt needs 128 points to become the 19th Lady Rebel to score 1,000 points in a career. She currently has 872 points.
THREE-POINT RECORD IN JEOPARDY
Regan Seybert is the all-time leader in three-pointers with 194, a record she set in 1997. But, that record is about to fall as senior Becky Myatt needs only 21 threes to become the career three-pointer leader. With her five three-pointers at the Howard Bank Classic, Myatt now has 174 career threes.
STREAK STILL ALIVE
The Lady Rebels have now hit at least one three-pointer in 178 games. Becky Myatt nailed a three-pointer at the 16:36 mark of the second half against Radford, to keep it alive and then the Lady Rebels hit eight threes versus Vermont. The NCAA record for consecutive games with at least one three-pointer is 211 held by Tennessee Tech.
TRAVELING WITH THE LADY REBELS
The Lady Rebels are one of the most well-traveled teams in the nation, having visited 33 states including Washington, D.C., and Aruba and Puerto Rico. This year, the Lady Rebels visited Vermont for the first time. In December they will travel to California for the Beach Classic.
ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE
Two years ago, the Lady Rebels had the 10th toughest schedule in the nation and last year's ranked right up there in the top 25. This year's schedule features 14 teams that made postseason play, including eight NCAA tournament teams. Highlighting the schedule are trips to NCAA participant Vermont Nov. 17-18 and WNIT participant Long Beach State in December. Six SEC teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 and the USA Today/ESPN Top 25.
OLE MISS AMONG TOP 20 IN STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
The WBCA/Summerville RPI has produced a preseason strength of schedule for the 2000-01 season and Ole Miss is ranked 16th. The 2000-01 Division I women's basketball strength of schedule was derived from the combined 1999-00 records of the individual schools 2000-01 schedules. The Lady Rebels have hd one of the toughest schedules in the nation the last three years.
LADY REBELS RECEIVE VOTES IN BOTH POLLS
Ole Miss received nine votes in the AP Poll, and eight votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. Six SEC teams are ranked in both polls while Florida and Ole Miss received votes in the AP Poll, and Florida, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama got votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.
IMPRESSIVE OUTSIDE THE SEC
The Lady Rebels have compiled an impressive record outside the Southeastern Conference in regular-season play since 1990. Ole Miss owns a 123-28 record (.814 winning percentage) versus non-conference teams since 1990. The Lady Rebels' best non-conference record since came during the 1991-92 SEC Championship season, as they compiled a 15-1 mark versus non-conference foes. The Lady Rebels have an overall 43-9 record (.826 winning percentage) versus non-conference opponents on this year's schedule.
STARTING AT GUARD
Senior guard Becky Myatt has started 88 consecutive games since her freshman year. In addition, Myatt has led the team in minutes played averaging nearly 33 minutes per game.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Ole Miss will appear on television twice this year. FoxSportsNetSouth will televise the Lady Rebels' game against Auburn on Feb. 18 in Tad Smith Coliseum. College Sports Southeast will show the game at Mississippi State on Feb. 1 tape delayed.
INJURIES
Sophomore center Shayla Day is out for two weeks with problems in her feet.
TIP-INS
Senior Stephanie Murphy graduated last year and is taking graduate courses...She is also serving as a minister at Providence Methodist Church... Murphy gave her first sermon on Oct. 15... Chandra Dorsey, a Criminal Justice major, interned this summer with the University Police Department ...Takela Corbitt attended the NCAA Leadership conference this summer...Happy November birthdays to Tiffany Gray (4th), Coach Aldy (9th), Sherika Wright (22nd) and Stephanie Murphy (28th).
