Rebels Host Georgia Thursday To Open SEC Play

GAME 16: Ole Miss (11-4) vs. Georgia (9-5)
Thursday 1.8.09 | 7 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061)

MEDIA
Live Radio: (Gary Darby, play-by-play) Listen Online through RebelVision
Live TV: CSS (Matt Stewart, play-by-play; Joe Ciampi, color analyst)
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com

OXFORD, Miss. In the midst of a three-game winning streak, the Ole Miss women’s basketball team welcomes Georgia to Tad Smith Coliseum Thursday evening at 7 p.m. to open Southeastern Conference play. 

Ole Miss (11-4, 0-0 SEC) enters Thursday coming off a 79-72 victory over Old Dominion in which four Rebels scored in double figures.  Junior guard Shantell Black recorded her first career double-double as she tallied 13 points to go along with a career-high 11 assists.  Fellow junior Bianca Thomas led the team as she poured in 20 points to help Ole Miss improve to 5-1 this season when she leads the team in scoring. 

Senior Shawn Goff scored 18 points and pulled down five rebounds and is now just 56 points shy of becoming the 22nd played in Ole Miss history to join the 1,000 points scored club.  Goff also needs 21 more blocked shots this season to become the school’s all-time leader in rejections.  She is currently tied for third in that category with 174 career blocked shots. 

After averaging 19.0 points per game over her last three games, Goff upped her season average to 14.9 points per game and now ranks second in the SEC in scoring.  The Tallahassee, Fla., native also ranks first on the team and 13th in the league in rebounding with 6.7 boards per game.  Thomas is second on the team and 13th in the conference with 12.8 points per game.  She also leads the SEC and ranks 10th in the nation with an 89.6 shooting percent from the free throw line. 

Georgia enters SEC playing with a 9-5 overall record after losing its last two games.  The Lady Bulldogs dropped a 56-44 home game to Xavier Dec. 30 to close out 2008 before opening the new year with a 62-60 setback Jan. 2 at No. 14 Virginia. In addition, Georgia has lost four of its last six games, and three of its last four on the road. 

Junior guard Ashley Houts leads the team with 12.7 points per game, while Angel Robinson scores 10.1 points per game as is the only other Lady Bulldog in double figures.  Robinson also leads the team and ranks third in the SEC with 8.9 rebounds per game.  As a team, Georgia averages 66.4 points per game and allows its opponents to score 52.4 points per game.  

Ole Miss and Georgia meet in the SEC opener for the second time in as many years and the fourth in the last five years when the two teams tip-off Thursday night.  Georgia owns a 26-9 record in the all-time series that dates back to the 1979-80 season.  Georgia has won four straight in the series as has not lost to Ole Miss since Feb. 20, 2005.  Last year in Athens, the Rebels dropped a 75-62 decision to the Lady Bulldogs to open SEC play.   The series is tied 6-6 all-time in games played in Oxford.  Ole Miss, however, is 17-10 all-time in SEC openers. 

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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