GAME #25: Ole Miss vs. Auburn
February 21, 2008 8:00 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. Tad Smith Coliseum (8,910)
Live Stats | Live Audio
OXFORD, Miss. With only three games left during the regular season, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team looks to improve its conference standing when the Lady Rebels host Auburn Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. from Tad Smith Coliseum.
Ole Miss (10-14, 4-7 SEC) enters Thursday in eighth place in the SEC standings following a loss Sunday afternoon at LSU. Prior to that, the Lady Rebels defeated in-state rival Mississippi State 73-65 Feb. 14 at Tad Smith Coliseum for their fifth home win in the last six tries. Overall, Ole Miss is 9-2 at home this season and outscores its opponents on average by 9.0 points per game.
Junior center Shawn Goff continues to lead the Lady Rebels on the offensive end of the court as she averages a team-leading 13.5 points per game to go along with 7.3 rebounds per game. In addition, Goff is first in the SEC with 2.38 blocks per game and needs just four more rejections to set the school single season record with 61.
Lady Rebel sophomore Shantell Black checks in just shy of double figures as the Lawrenceville, Ga., native averages 9.9 points per game. Along with her scoring ability, Black is one of the country’s top distributors as evident by her league-leading 5.42 assists per game. Senior forward Carla Bartee continues to be a force on the boards for the Lady Rebels as she is first on the team and eighth in the league with 8.0 rebounds per game. Bartee also possesses the ability to score as well, averaging third on the team with 9.4 points per game.
Auburn enters play Thursday night with an 18- 7 overall record, 6-4 inside the SEC. The Tigers have won three straight games and five of six overall. During the three-game winning streak, Auburn is averaging 76.6 points per game.
The Tigers feature three players who average in double figures. Auburn is led by junior DeWanna Bonner, who ranks second in the SEC in scoring (18.0) and first in rebounding (9.9). Junior guard Sherell Hobbs adds 12.9 points per game, while freshman guard Alli Smalley checks in with 10.9 points per game and a team-high 69 assists.
As a team, Auburn averages 71.4 points per game and outscores its opponents by 12.6 points per game.
Auburn owns a slim 25-20 edge in the all-time series between the two schools that dates back to the 1978-79 season. The Lady Rebels have enjoyed the most success of late as Ole Miss has won three of the last four meetings between the two schools. Most recently, however, Auburn won the last meeting as the Tigers claimed a 64-56 victory last season inside Tad Smith Coliseum on the final day of the regular season. Ole Miss, however, opened the conference portion of the schedule with a 74-66 win on the Tigers’ home court a season ago.
The Tigers have had Ole Miss’ number of late in game played at Tad Smith Coliseum. After claiming last year’s meeting in Oxford, Auburn has won four of the last five meetings at Tad Smith Coliseum. In the 18 all-time games between Auburn and Ole Miss at Tad Smith Coliseum, both the Tigers and Lady Rebels have won nine games apiece.
