The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Open NCAA Championship Play Against George Washington
3/20/2005 | Women's Basketball
March 20, 2005
George Washington-Mississippi AP Preview
GAME: No. 9 George Washington (22-8) vs. No. 8 Mississippi (19-10).
REGIONAL: Tempe, first round.
TIME: Sunday, 9:30 p.m. EST.
SITE: Dean E. Smith Center; Chapel Hill, N.C.
Mississippi has not posted 20 victories in a season in 10 years. The Lady Rebels can achieve that milestone when they face George Washington in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Mississippi will be making its second straight appearance in the tournament- already an accomplishment for a school which had four losing seasons in six-year stretch recently.
"From a program standpoint, we've been awfully proud that we've been able to go back-to-back," said Lady Rebels coach Carol Ross, who has engineered the turnaround after she was hired in 2003.
Ross, who coached Florida to nine NCAA berths from 1993-2002, guided the Lady Rebels to a 17-14 record last season and their first tournament appearance since 1996. Mississippi fell 66-63 to Villanova in the first round but the experience served as motivation.
The Lady Rebels battled to an 8-6 mark in the tough Southeastern Conference this season. They had a chance to reach 20 wins for the first time since going 21-8 in 1994-95, but lost 87-65 to Georgia in the second round of the league tournament.
SEC defensive player of the year Armintie Price leads the Lady Rebels with averages of 17.0 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals a game. Senior 6-foot-3 center Amber Watts adds 11.8 points and 6.5 rebounds while Carletta Brown averages a team-best 4.7 assists.
"We're going into this game hungry and not just glad to get back to the NCAA tournament," said Brown, a 5-foot-2 senior guard.
Mississippi has advanced to the regional finals four times but not since 1992, and has lost in the first round in its last three appearances.
They face a tough challenge against one of the top post players in the country in George Washington's Anna Montanana. A finalist for the Kodak All-American team, she leads the ninth-seeded Colonials with 17.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
"Their offense goes through her," said Ross. "She's got that rangy ability to go inside and be that dominant post player but also move around and shoot from the perimeter."
The 6-foot-1 forward scored 26 points in the Atlantic 10 tournament final, but it was not enough as George Washington had its nine-game winning streak end with a 72-60 loss to Temple.
George Washington has advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament nine times, and had its best run with a trip to the regional final in 1997.
While this will be the first meeting between the two teams, Colonials coach Joe McKeown has lost two all-time meetings with Ross during her stint with the Gators.
"They're a tough team," McKeown said of the Lady Rebels. "They've flown under the radar a little bit this season, like we have. I think it will be a great matchup."
The winner will face either No. 1 seed North Carolina or 16th-seeded Coppin State in the second round on Tuesday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: George Washington - F Price (17.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg), F Amber Terrell (2.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg), C Watts (11.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg), G Elizabeth Cansdale (7.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg), G Brown (8.7 ppg, 4.7 apg). Mississippi - F Montanana (17.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg), F Whitney Allen (4.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg), C Jessica Simmonds (14.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg), G Kenan Cole (7.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg), G Kimberly Beck (8.0 ppg, 5.3 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: George Washington - At-large berth, Atlantic 10. Mississippi - At-large berth, Southeastern Conference.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: George Washington - 12-11, 12 years. Mississippi - 15-15, 16 years.
