The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Travel To Auburn On Sunday
1/14/2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. -
The Lady Rebels (10-5, 0-2) will still be searching for their first win of the conference season and 2006 when they travel to Auburn, Ala., for a match-up with the Tigers (9-7, 0-3) on Sunday, Jan. 15. Game time is slated for 2 p.m., in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
Ole Miss and Auburn are both looking to pick up their first win in conference play. Ole Miss has dropped two games at home to Georgia and Mississippi State, while the Tigers have fallen at home to LSU and on the road at the hands of Alabama and Arkansas.
Ole Miss is led on the season by junior guard Armintie Price with 17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Price, a two-time 2005-06 SEC Player of the Week, has scored in double figures in 13-of-15 games this season and has collected nine double-doubles on the season.
Junior guard Ashley Awkward has been getting the nod at the point guard position for Ole Miss. Awkward is leading the team in assists with 2.7 per game. She also drops in 10.3 points and is second on the team with 1.5 steals per game.
After opening the season with three-straight games in double figures, sophomore forward Danetra Forrest has collected two-straight double-figure outings to open conference play. Forrest led Ole Miss with 12 points versus Georgia and tied for team-leading honors against MSU with 15 points.
Sophomore forward Carla Bartee is Ole Miss' top player off the bench with 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per outing. Bartee posted her first double-double as a Lady Rebel with 15 points and 10 rebounds versus Louisiana Tech. She has also knocked down 18 triples on the season.
Under the direction of third-year head coach Carol Ross, the Lady Rebels are 46-30. 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.
Auburn enters Sunday's game with a 9-7 overall mark and an 0-3 record in SEC games. The Tigers won five-straight games before entering SEC play and their current three-game losing streak.
Freshman DeWanna Bonner leads the Tigers in scoring with 12.9 points per game. Bonner also pulls down 5.6 rebounds and has 30 assists and 25 steals. Senior Nitasha Brown adds 11.8 points and leads AU with 73 assists on the season.
Senior Marita Payne is the leading shot blocker in the SEC with 54 on the season and also leads AU with 7.0 boards per game.
Auburn head coach Nell Fortner is 25-20 in her second season with the Tigers. Her overall coaching mark is 42-31 in her third season in the business.
