The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Tangle With Alabama Wednesday Night
1/5/2010 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss (9-5, 0-1 SEC) vs. Alabama (8-6, 0-1 SEC)
Wednesday 1.6.10 | 7:00 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Oxford, Miss. (9,061)
MEDIA
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Live Video: RebelVision
Live Radio: RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's basketball team looks to secure its first conference win of the season Wednesday night at 7 p.m. when the Rebels welcome Alabama to Tad Smith Coliseum.
Ole Miss (9-5, 0-1 SEC) enters the week having won three of its last four games and boasts a 4-1 mark this season inside Tad Smith Coliseum. In fact, the Rebels are averaging 88.6 points per game in their five home games and are winning those contests by an average of 36.4 points per game.
The Rebels are coming off an 86-72 setback at Vanderbilt in the SEC opener for both schools. Ole Miss All-SEC guard Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to mark the 18th time in her career that she has scored at least 20 points in a game.
Sophomore forward Nikki Byrd scored 16 points and shot 7-for-9 from the field and now ranks second in the conference with a .634 field goal percentage. Rebel guards Shantell Black and Kayla Melson finished also finished in double figures as the duo tallied 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Thomas continues to pace the Rebels on the offensive end by averaging 21.1 points per game, ranking her first in the conference and 11th in the nation. The Henderson, Tenn., native also leads the team with 5.6 rebounds per game. Melson stands second on the team with 12.3 points per game and ranks second in the league with 5.8 assists per game.
Black pours in 10.6 points per game and ranks third in the SEC with 4.8 assists per game. In fact, Black is just two helpers shy of moving into fifth place on the school's all-time assist list, entering Wednesday's game with 454 career assists.
Alabama enters Wednesday's game with an 8-6 overall record and an 0-1 mark in SEC play. The Crimson Tide fell at home on Sunday 52-44 to No. 10 Georgia and has now lost 27 of their last 28 conference games. In addition, Alabama has lost 22 straight league road games as has not won a road SEC game since defeating Mississippi State 61-59 in Starkville in February of 2006.
This season, Alabama is 1-4 on the road with its only win coming in the form of a 64-62 victory at UCF. The Crimson Tide has also fallen on the road this year to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Belmont, Alabama State and Florida A&M.
Individually, junior guard Varisia Raffington leads the Crimson Tide and ranks 16th in the SEC with 12.5 points per game to go along with 4.9 rebounds per game. Junior forward Tierney Jenkins averages 11.2 points per game and ranks first on the team and first in the SEC with 10.3 rebounds per game. Jenkins is one of only three players in the conference to average a double-double.
Ole Miss and Alabama will be meeting for the 49th time when the two teams tip-off Wednesday evening. The Rebels own a 31-17 overall record in the all-time series with Alabama that dates back to the 1976-77 season. The Rebels have enjoyed a great deal of success against the Crimson Tide recent years. In fact, Ole Miss has won eight of the last nine meetings between the two and four straight in Oxford.
The Rebels are 15-6 all-time against the Crimson Tide in Oxford and have won the last four at Tad Smith Coliseum. In those last four meetings in Oxford, Ole Miss has won each game by at least 14 points and is winning by an average of 28.5 points per game, which includes a 41-point victory in 2007.
