The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Travel To Memphis On Friday
12/15/2005 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. -
The Lady Rebels (7-1) will travel to Memphis to take on the Lady Tigers at Elma Roane Fieldhouse on Friday. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
The game in Memphis will serve as a homecoming for two Ole Miss players in junior guard Ashley Awkward and sophomore forward Jada Mincy. Both Awkward and Mincy are starters on the Lady Rebel team who just pulled off an upset of 7th-ranked Rutgers in their last outing.
Ole Miss is led on the season by junior guard Armintie Price with 18.6 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Price, a preseason All-SEC first team selection, recently eclipsed the 1,000-point and 600-rebound marks. She currently sits in 20th place on the Ole Miss all-time scoring chart with 1,096 points.
Senior guard Ashley Johnson is averaging 13.5 points per game and has made 17-of-47 shots from beyond the arc. Johnson led Ole Miss in wins over Clemson with 21 points and Tennessee State with 20 points. She also posted 22 points in the win over Rutgers.
Awkward and sophomore Tasi Worsham have been handling the point guard duties for Ole Miss. Awkward is averaging 10.1 points per outing, while Worsham is adding 5.1 per game. The duo has dished a combined 40 assists in Ole Miss' first eight games and has also collected 25 steals.
Mincy had a break-out game in Ole Miss' win over Tennessee State. She recorded her first career double-double with a personal best 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds, eight of which were on the offensive end. Mincy was Ole Miss' leading rebounder for the second-straight outing with 10 boards versus UAB.
Under the direction of third-year head coach Carol Ross, the Lady Rebels are 43-26. Ross, who played at Ole Miss from 1979-82, earned SEC Co-Coach of the Year honors in 2004 after guiding Ole Miss back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight seasons. Ross' Lady Rebels returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2004-05, falling to George Washington in the first round of play.
Memphis enters Friday's contest with a 2-6 record. The Lady Tigers have produced wins over Lipscomb (76-74) and UT-Martin (73-50). Ole Miss leads the series between the local rivals 29-12.
Leading the way for the Lady Tigers is freshman Paris Leonard with 14.0 points per game. Senior guard Tamika Butler is putting in 13.3 points and junior Devin Necaise adds 12.9 points per game. Junior Ashley Howard is the leading rebounder for UM with 8.5 caroms per contest.
Memphis head coach Blair Savage-Lansden is 16-22 in her second season with the Lady Tigers. Her overall coaching mark is the same.
