The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Battle LSU Sunday On 'enior Day?
2/28/2009 | Women's Basketball
Sunday 03.01.09 | 2 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061)
MEDIA
Live Radio: (Gary Darby, play-by-play) Listen Online through RebelVision
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Prior to the game with the Lady Tigers, Ole Miss will honor departing senior Shawn Goff. Goff will finish her career as one of the all-time greats to ever wear an Ole Miss uniform. During her four years in red and blue, she has scored 1,103 points and grabbed 661 rebounds. Earlier this year, she became just the 22nd player in school history to score over 1,000 career points and currently ranks 20th all-time at Ole Miss in scoring. She has also served as one of the nation's top defensive forces the past two seasons and has re-written the Ole Miss record books in the process. Last season as a junior, she swatted away 67 shots to set a new school record for the most blocked shots in a single season. This season, she became the Ole Miss all-time blocked shots leader with her current total of 202 rejections. Ole Miss (16-12, 5-8 SEC) enters the weekend coming off a thrilling 71-69 victory over No. 18 Vanderbilt in its last outing. Sophomore guard Kayla Melson scored the game-winning basket with six seconds left to play to help Ole Miss earn its first victory of the season over a ranked opponent. Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 25 points for Ole Miss to mark her eighth game of the season in which she has tallied at least 20 points. Shantell Black registered her second career double-double and finished with 10 points and 11 assists. It was the third time this season Black as reached double figures in assists. With the Rebels’ win over Vanderbilt coupled with Kentucky’s loss to Georgia Thursday night, the Rebels are assured of playing in the opening game of next week’s SEC Tournament in Little Rock, Ark. Ole Miss will be either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed and will take on either Mississippi State, Arkansas or Georgia Thursday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. The Rebels are led on the offensive end of the by floor by the 15.5 points per game from Thomas, ranking her third in the league. She also averages 4.9 rebounds per game and ranks second in the SEC with an 84.6 shooting percentage from the free throw line. Goff enters Sunday ranked second on the team and seventh in the SEC with 13.5 points per game. She is also first on the team and 13th in the conference with 6.3 rebounds per game. LSU (16-9, 9-4 SEC) enters the weekend riding a four-game winning streak after defeating The Lady Tigers are led by second-year head coach and former Ole Miss head coach Van Chancellor. Chancellor, who will be making his first return to Tad Smith Coliseum since his departure in 1997, served as head coach at Ole Miss from 1978-97 and helped put the Rebels on the women’s basketball national map. In his 19 years at Ole Miss, Chancellor’s teams won at least 20 games 15 times, including a school-record 31 wins in 1978-79. He also led the Rebels to top-20 final rankings 13 times, with top-10 finishes four times. In addition, Chancellor led Ole Miss to the Elite Eight at the NCAA Tournament four times, while his teams made the Sweet 16 on three other occasions. During his tenure in Junior guard Allison Hightower leads the Lady Tigers and ranks sixth in the SEC with 14.4 points per game. Hightower is also second on the team with 69 assists (2.8 apg) and is third in rebounding with 4.5 boards per game. Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett is second on the team with 11.3 points per game. Barrett also leads LSU with 5.8 rebounds per game. Every other player on the LSU roster averages below 6.0 points per game. Ole Miss and LSU will be meeting for the 44th time when the two teams tip-off Sunday afternoon inside Tad Smith Coliseum. LSU owns a 24-19 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 1977-78 season. The Lady Tigers have won three straight meetings with Ole Miss and 14 of the last 15 overall. The Rebels’ only win during that span came in the form of a 77-74 victory Jan. 11, 2007 in
