The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Go For Sixth Straight Win Thursday At USC
1/27/2010 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss (14-5, 5-1 SEC) vs. South Carolina (10-9, 3-4 SEC)
Thursday 1.28.10 | 6:00 p.m. CT
Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
MEDIA
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Live Radio: RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
OXFORD, Miss. - In search of its sixth straight win, the Ole Miss women's basketball team takes to the road again when the Rebels travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on South Carolina Thursday evening at 6 p.m. (CT) from Colonial Life Arena.
Should Ole Miss win its sixth straight league game Thursday at South Carolina, it would mark the longest conference winning streak since the Rebels went a perfect 11-0 in conference during the 1991-92 season. The Rebels have also not won two straight SEC road games since beating Florida and Arkansas in consecutive games in 2007.
Ole Miss (14-5, 5-1 SEC) enters the week tied for first place in the conference standings after upsetting ninth-ranked Georgia 66-65 last Sunday in Athens. All-SEC guard Bianca Thomas hit the game-winning three-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to play to give Ole Miss its first ever win inside Stegeman Coliseum. The Rebels entered the game 0-14 all-time in Athens.
Senior forward Elizabeth Robertson scored a team-high 17 points and hit a career-high five three-pointers as Ole Miss shot 42.9 percent from beyond the arc against the Lady Bulldogs. Point guard Kayla Melson finished with 16 points and seven assists and is averaging 9.3 assists per game over the last four games.
Sophomore Nikki Byrd scored 13 points and tied her career-high with 14 rebounds to post her second double-double of the season. Her performance helped her earn SEC Player of the Week honors, giving Ole Miss the conference player of the week in consecutive weeks. Shantell Black also scored 10 points and had six rebounds as all five Ole Miss starters reached double figures.
Thomas continues to be the offensive catalyst for the Rebels and enters the week ranked first in the SEC and ninth in the nation with 21.8 points per game. Thomas is also second in the conference and sixth in the nation with 3.4 three-pointers per game and is just nine treys shy of setting a new single season school record.
Melson stands second on the team and 17th in the SEC with 12.4 points per game. The Montgomery, Ala., native is also first in the SEC and eighth in the nation with 6.6 assists per game.
Black adds 10.4 points per game and is third in the conference with 4.7 points per game.
South Carolina enters the week with a 10-9 overall record and a 3-4 mark inside the SEC after dropping its last two games. The Gamecocks fell on the road last week to both LSU and Florida. Prior to those two contests, South Carolina had won three straight league games to surpass all of last season's win total in SEC play. The Gamecocks finished last year 2-12 in the SEC.
South Carolina is 6-1 at home this year with its only loss coming Jan. 3 to LSU in the SEC opener. As a team, the Gamecocks rank last in the SEC in field goal percentage defense by allowing their opponents to shoot 40.4 percent from the field.
Individually, the Gamecocks are led on offense by junior guard Valerie Nainima. A transfer from Long Island University, Nainima ranks first on the team and third in the SEC with 17.5 points per game. She has also hit 53 three-pointers and shots 37.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Freshman post Kelsey Bone stands second on the team and ninth in the SEC with 14.7 points per game. Bone also leads the Gamecocks and ranks second in the conference with 9.6 rebounds per game. Guard La'Keisha Sutton is the third on the team with 10.8 points per game.
Ole Miss and South Carolina will be meeting for the 28th time when the two teams tip-off Thursday evening. The Rebels own a 16-11 overall record in the all-time series with South Carolina that dates back to the 1978-79 season. Last season, the Rebels and Gamecocks played twice with each team winning on the other's floor.
In the most recent meeting, Ole Miss claimed a 66-65 win over the Gamecocks last season in Columbia as Liz Robertson hit the game-winning shot with 0.6 seconds left to play. With that victory, Ole Miss has now won six of the last nine meetings between the two teams. Despite last year's win in Columbia, the Rebels are still trail the all-time series in Columbia 4-7.
