The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Close Regular Season Sunday At No. 4 Tennessee
2/27/2010 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss (16-12, 7-8 SEC) vs. No. 4/4 Tennessee (26-2, 14-1 SEC)
Sunday 2.28.10 | 5:00 p.m. CT
Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Assembly Center (21,678)
MEDIA
Live TV: ESPNU (Sam Gore, play-by-play; Abby Waner, analyst)
Live Stats: OleMissSports.com
Live Radio: RebelVision (Gary Darby, play-by-play; Alliesha Easley, analyst)
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's basketball team puts the finishing touches on the 2009-10 regular season Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. (CT) when the Rebels travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the fourth-ranked Tennessee Lady Volunteers from Thompson-Boling Assembly Center.
Ole Miss (16-12, 7-8 SEC) enters the weekend in eighth place in the conference standings following its 65-61 win over Auburn Thursday night in Oxford. The Rebels can finish as high as fifth place in the league standings with a win, but can finish no worse than ninth place with a loss.
The Rebels snapped a four-game losing streak with its win over the Tigers. All-America candidate Bianca Thomas scored a game-high 22 points and also finished with four rebounds.
Elizabeth Robertson added 11 points and went 3-for-6 from the three-point line to increase her season total to 67 and move into third place all-time on the Ole Miss single season list. As a team, the Rebels finished with six three-pointers to set a new Ole Miss single season record with 209, surpassing the previous record of 203 set by the 1999-00 team.
Shantell Black finished in double figures with 10 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists, while Kayla Holloway pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
Thomas continues to serve as the offensive catalyst for the Rebels and ranks first in the SEC and 10th in the nation with 20.6 points per game. She is bidding to become just the third player in school history to average 20 points per game for an entire season. Thomas also leads the team with 5.4 rebounds per game.
She is also third in the league and 11th in the nation with 3.0 three-pointers per game and has already set a new single season record with 84 treys and counting.
Kayla Melson ranks second on the team and 12th in the league with 12.9 points per game. The Montgomery, Ala., native also leads the league and ranks 12th in the nation with 5.9 assists per game.
Robertson pours in 9.6 points per game and shoots 36.6 percent from beyond the arc, while Black adds 9.5 points per game and ranks fourth in the league with 4.5 assists per game.
Tennessee enters the week with a 26-2 overall record and a 14-1 mark inside the league. The Lady Vols knocked off Kentucky 81-65 Thursday night in Knoxville and have now won 10 straight games heading into Sunday.
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 (.465) and three-point field goal percentage (.383) and is second in field goal percentage defense (.345). The Lady Vols, however, rank last in the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense as Tennessee allows its opponents to shoot 33.1 percent from beyond the arc.
Individually, the Lady Vols are led by the 14.5 points per game of junior Angie Bjorklund. Bjorklund ranks seventh in the league in scoring and first with a .452 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Shekinna Stricklen is second on the team and 16th in the SEC with 12.4 points per game. Stricklen is also second in the league with a .863 shooting percentage from the free throw line.
Glory Johnson adds 11.1 points per game and ranks fourth in the SEC with 8.0 rebounds per game. Kelley Cain pours in 10.5 points per game and ranks first in the conference with 3.8 blocked shots per game.
Ole Miss and Tennessee will be meeting for the 42nd time when the two teams tip-off Sunday afternoon. The Lady Vols own a 34-7 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 18 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 17-game winning streak over the Rebels earlier this season, but a late three-pointer by Angie Bjorklund with one second left lifted the Lady Vols to a 61-58 win in Oxford.
Tennessee also owns a 15-2 all-time mark against Ole Miss in games played in Knoxville. In addition, The Lady Vols have won 12 straight games against the Rebels inside Thompson-Boling Assembly Center. The Rebels have not won in Knoxville since downing Tennessee 69-65 on Jan. 31, 1987.
