GAME #27: Ole Miss vs. Florida
March 2, 2008 2:00 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. Tad Smith Coliseum (8,910)
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OXFORD, Miss. In search of its first three-game winning streak of the season, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team puts the finishing touches on the regular season Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. by welcoming Florida to Tad Smith Coliseum.
Ole Miss (12-14, 6-7) enters Sunday in sixth place in the SEC standings and can secure the sixth seed in next week’s SEC Tournament with a win over Florida. If the Lady Rebels earn the No. 6 seed, Ole Miss would face the No. 11 seed in the opening round of the SEC Tournament.
The Lady Rebels are coming off a convincing 70-54 win last Sunday at Alabama for their first SEC road victory of the season. In that game, sophomore Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 19 points as she shot 80 percent on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Thomas is averaging 12.6 points per game over her last five games. Junior Shawn Goff scored 15 points and added a game-high five blocked shots to become Ole Miss’ single season blocked shots leader. Goff enters the weekend with 62 rejections this season as she surpassed Susan Byrd’s 60 swats set during the 1993-94 season.
Florida enters the final day of the regular season sporting a 5-8 record in the conference after dropping its last two games. Overall, Florida has lost six of its last eight games. Last week the Gators began play by dropping a 69-65 decision at home to South Carolina. Most recently, Florida fell at third-ranked Tennessee 88-61 Thursday night in Knoxville.
The Gators feature three players who average in double figures. Junior forward Marshae Dotson leads the way with a team-leading 14.3 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game. Dotson ranks sixth in the conference in scoring and seventh in rebounding. Senior guard Depree Bowden is second on the team with 13.3 points per game, while junior guard Sha Brooks is third with 11.6 points per game to go along with a team-leading 73 assists.
As a team, Florida averages 69.2 points per game and, ironically, allows 69.2 points per game to its opponents.
Florida owns a slim 13-12 lead in the all-time series with Ole Miss that dates back to the 1978-79 season. The series started with the Lady Rebels winning the first eight all-time meetings, while Florida won the next 11 consecutive meetings. Most recently, however, Ole Miss has won three of the last four meetings with the Gators, including last year’s 72-64 win in Gainesville. Florida, however, won its last game at Tad Smith Coliseum as the Gators claimed a 66-58 victory Jan. 19, 2006 in Oxford. Ole Miss has won two of the last three meetings between the two schools at the Tad Pad.
Ironically, the last three meetings between Ole Miss and Florida have all been decided by eight points. The Lady Rebels and Gators have traditionally played close games in recent years. In fact, the last nine games between the two teams have been decided by an average of 6.2 points.
Ole Miss features a pair of coaches and who player who began their careers at the University of Florida. Lady Rebel first-year head coach Renee Ladner began her collegiate coaching career at UF as she served as an assistant coach under former Florida and Ole Miss head coach Carol Ross from 2000-02. In addition, Ole Miss assistant coach Jocelyn McGilberry also served as an assistant coach at Florida for one year in 1990 under Ross. Lady Rebel sophomore guard LaKendra Phillips will face her former team for the first time when the Lady Rebels take the floor Sunday. Phillips started her career at Florida and played in 12 games for the Gators before deciding to transfer to Ole Miss.
