The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Celebrate 'enior Night? Thursday Against Auburn
2/23/2010 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss (15-12, 6-8 SEC) vs. Auburn (13-14, 4-10 SEC)
Thursday 2.25.10 | 7:00 p.m. CT
Oxford, Miss. | Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061)
MEDIA
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Live Video: RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
Live Audio: WTNM-FM 105.5; RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
OXFORD, Miss. - Looking to improve its seeding for the upcoming Southeastern Conference tournament, the Ole Miss women's basketball team plays host to Auburn Thursday night at 7 p.m. from Tad Smith Coliseum in the final home game of the regular season.
Ole Miss (15-12, 6-8 SEC) enters the final week of the season tied with South Carolina for eighth place in the conference standings after Sunday's setback against No. 20 Vanderbilt. Rebel All-America candidate Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 23 points and moved into 12th place all-time at Ole Miss in scoring in the process.
Kayla Melson tallied 17 points and five assists against the Commodores, while sophomore post Kayla Holloway scored a career-high 13 points to go along with eight rebounds in her first start of the season.
Thomas continues to lead the Rebels on offense and ranks first in the SEC and 11th in the nation with 20.6 points per game. She is bidding to become just the third Rebel in school history to average at least 20 points for an entire season. The Henderson, Tenn., native also stands tied for second in the league and 11th in the nation with 3.1 three-pointers per game.
Melson ranks second on the team and 11th in the league with 13.4 points per game. She also leads the league and stands 11th in the country with 6.0 assists per game. Elizabeth Robertson pours in 9.6 points per game and needs just two more three-pointers to move into third place on the Ole Miss all-time single season list with 66.
Shantell Black adds 9.5 points per game and is fourth in the league with 4.6 assists per game.
Auburn enters the weekend with a 13-14 overall record and a 4-10 mark inside the league. The Tigers are tied with Arkansas for 10th place in the conference standings following their 50-36 road win against Mississippi State Sunday afternoon. Prior to the victory over the Lady Bulldogs, the Tigers had lost four straight games.
Auburn hasn't won two straight games since downing LSU (Jan. 10) and Alabama (Jan. 14) in the opening month of the conference season.
As a team, the Tigers are last in the SEC in scoring offense as Auburn averages just 61.6 points per game. The Tigers have failed to score 60 points in their last five games and have only scored 60 or more points in five of their 14 league games.
Auburn is also last in the SEC with a .580 shooting percentage from the free throw line.
Individually, the Tigers are led on the offense by the 15.0 points per game of junior guard Alli Smalley. Smalley ranks sixth in the league in scoring and also leads the team with 45 three-pointers this season.
Senior post KeKe Carrier is second on the team and 13th in the league with 12.9 points per game. Carrier also leads the Tigers and ranks seventh in the conference with 7.3 rebounds per game. Guard Morgan Toles is fifth in the SEC with 4.4 assists per game.
Ole Miss and Auburn will be meeting for the 49th time when the two teams tip-off Thursday evening in Oxford. The Tigers own a 27-21 overall record in the all-time series with Ole Miss that dates back to the 1978-79 season.
Auburn has won three of the last four meetings between the two, which includes the last two contests. The Tigers downed the Rebels last year in the regular season in Auburn and again in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Auburn in Oxford 10-9 and has won two of the last three meetings inside Tad Smith Coliseum.
