GAME 5: Ole Miss (4-0) vs. Alcorn State (0-3)
Monday 11.24.08 | 7 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061) MEDIA
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OXFORD, Miss. In the midst of a five-game homestand, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team looks for its fifth straight win to start the season when the Rebels welcome in-state foe Alcorn State to Tad Smith Coliseum Monday evening at 7 p.m.
Ole Miss improved to 4-0 in its most recent outing as the Rebels defeated Memphis 84-63 Friday night at Tad Smith Coliseum. Sophomore Alliesha Easley scored a team-high 15 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Easley, who missed all of last season with an ACL injury, currently ranks second on the team in both scoring (11.5) and rebounding (5.0).
The Rebels also received double digit scoring performances from Bianca Thomas, Katorra Lewis and Elizabeth Robertson, while junior guard Shantell Black dished out 10 assists in the win over Memphis to tie her career-high in assists. Black also dolled out 10 helpers a season ago in a win over Louisiana-Lafayette.
Alcorn State enters Monday’s game with an 0-3 record after falling 67-50 to Idaho State in its last game. The Lady Braves are led by senior guard Brittany Myatt, who paces the team with 11.0 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game. Fellow guard Kiara Ruffin ranks second on the team with 8.3 points per game.
Ole Miss has enjoyed a great deal of success when facing non-conference opponents at Tad Smith Coliseum. The Rebels are 29-2 against non-conference foes since the 2003-04 season. In fact, Ole Miss has won 26 of its last 27 non-conference home games. In addition, the Rebels have not lost a non-conference game against a school from inside the state of Mississippi since the 1995-96 season. That year, Ole Miss was beaten 80-77 in Oxford by Southern Miss.
Ole Miss and Alcorn State will be meeting for the first time since the 1992-93 season when the two teams tip-off Monday evening inside the Tad Pad. The Rebels have dominated the Lady Braves in the all-time series that dates back to the 1979-80 season. Ole Miss owns an impressive 13-1 record all-time against Alcorn State and has won 13 in a row in the series. The Lady Braves won the first meeting 70-66 in 1980, but since then Ole Miss has reeled off 13 in a row.
In the Rebels’ 13 consecutive victories over Alcorn State, Ole Miss is averaging a margin of victory of 20.6 points per game. The Lady Braves have only managed to stay within single digits of Ole Miss in just two of the last 13 games between the two.
Ole Miss boasts a 60-6 all-time record against teams from the SWAC. The Rebels have won 47 straight games against schools from the SWAC. The last time Ole Miss lost to a team from the SWAC was in the form of a 70-69 setback Feb. 6, 1981 at Mississippi Valley State.
