The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Host No. 5 Tennessee In Tickled Pink Game
2/10/2010 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss (15-8, 6-4 SEC) vs. No. 5/5 Tennessee (21-2, 9-1 SEC)
Thursday 2.11.10 | 8:00 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061)
MEDIA
Live TV: CSS (Matt Stewart, play-by-play; Joe Ciampi, analyst)
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Live Radio: RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's basketball will host its annual "Tickled Pink at the Tad Pad" game Thursday night at 8 p.m. when the Rebels welcome fifth-ranked Tennessee to Tad Smith Coliseum.
Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of raising breast cancer awareness. The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
Ole Miss (15-8, 6-4 SEC) enters the week coming off a thrilling 102-101 triple overtime win over LSU Sunday afternoon to give the Rebels their first win in Baton Rouge since 1994. It was also the first time since 1985 that Ole Miss has beaten LSU twice in the same season. Ole Miss is now tied with Florida for third place in the league standings.
All-SEC guard Bianca Thomas scored a team-high 29 points and hit four three-pointers to set a new single season record at Ole Miss with 77 three-pointers. She surpassed the previous record of 73 that she set last season as a junior.
Elizabeth Robertson scored a career-high 25 points and tied the single game school record with seven three-pointers made. Kayla Melson finished with a double-double as she tallied 20 points and 10 assists. It was the first time since 1986 that Ole Miss had three players score at least 20 points in the same game.
Thomas continues to serve as the offensive catalyst for the Rebels and enters the week ranked first in the SEC and 10th in the nation with 21.3 points per game. The Henderson, Tenn., is also second in the conference and seventh in the nation with 3.3 three-pointers per game and is just 12 treys shy of moving into a tie for ninth place on the SEC's all-time single season list.
Melson, who has scored 20 points in three straight games, pours in 13.7 points per game and is second on the team and 10th in the SEC. The Montgomery, Ala., native is also first in the league and ninth in the nation with 6.3 assists per game. Senior Shantell Black adds 9.8 points per game and is fifth in the SEC with 4.3 assists per game.
Tennessee enters the week with a 21-2 overall record and a 9-1 mark inside the league. The Lady Vols knocked off Vanderbilt 69-60 Monday night in Nashville and have now won five straight games heading into Thursday. The Lady Vols' only conference loss of the season came Jan. 21 when Tennessee fell 53-50 to Georgia in Athens. Tennessee's only other loss this season came in the form of a 67-52 setback at second-ranked Stanford on Dec. 19.
As a team, Tennessee leads the conference in field goal percentage (.464), field goal percentage defense (.342), three-point field goal percentage (.379). The Lady Vols, however, rank last in the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense as UT allows its opponents to shoot 33.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Individually, the Lady Vols are led by the 14.6 points per game of junior Angie Bjorklund. Bjorklund ranks eighth in the league in scoring and first with a .464 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Shekinna Stricklen is second on the team and 18th in the SEC with 12.4 points per game. Stricklen also leads the league with a .881 shooting percentage from the free throw line. Glory Johnson adds 11.9 points per game and ranks fourth in the SEC with 8.5 rebounds per game.
Ole Miss and Tennessee will be meeting for the 41st time when the two teams tip-off Thursday evening. The Lady Vols own a 33-7 overall record in the all-time series with Ole Miss that dates back to the 1976-77 season.
The Lady Vols have enjoyed a great deal of success against the Rebels in recent years. In fact, Tennessee has won 17 straight meetings between the two teams. Ole Miss' last win in the series came Feb. 4, 1996 when the Rebels downed the Lady Vols 78-72 in Oxford.
Ole Miss nearly snapped Tennessee's 16-game winning streak over the Rebels last season, but a late three-pointer by Angie Bjorklund with six seconds left lifted the Lady Vols to a 60-59 win in Knoxville.
Tennessee also owns a 14-3 all-time mark against Ole Miss in games played in Oxford. In addition, The Lady Vols have won seven straight games against the Rebels inside Tad Smith Coliseum.
