The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Hoops Kicks off 2014-15 Season on Friday
11/12/2014 | Women's Basketball
Ole Miss kicks off the 2014-15 women's basketball season on Friday (Nov. 14) when they welcome the Grambling State Tigers to Tad Smith Coliseum for the 12th annual School Kids game. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m.
Game 1: Ole Miss (0-0) vs. Grambling State (0-0)
Date: November 14, 2014
Location: Oxford, Miss (Tad Smith Coliseum)
Series: Ole Miss leads, 5-0
Streak: Ole Miss has won five
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Starting Five
1. The Rebels open the 41st season of women's basketball against Grambling State on Friday (Nov. 14). Ole Miss' 41 seasons are the most of any SEC women's basketball team. Friday's game will be the 1,227th game since the first varsity season. Ole Miss has an all-time record of 766-459.
2. Ole Miss is seeking its seventh consecutive season-opening victory and its second under the direction of Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell. The last time the Rebels dropped an opener was during the 2007-08 season at Nebraska. The last time Ole Miss dropped a home opener was during the 1998-99 season to Clemson.
3. Ole Miss opens the 2014-15 season at home for the sixth consecutive season and boasts a 37-3 record in home openers. This will be the first time since the 2011-12 season Ole Miss has opened with the school day game.
4. This will be the collegiate debut for Ole Miss' six freshmen. Mississippi natives Kiara Golden (Olive Branch), A'Queen Hayes (Horn Lake) and Shandricka Sessom (Byhalia) join Toree Thompson (Broken Arrow, Okla.), Sarah Porter (San Diego, Calif.) and Kelsey Briggs (Memphis, Tenn.) as first year players fo the Rebels.
5. Senior forward Tia Faleru is approaching the 1,000-point milestone and enters the season-opener vs. Grambling needing just 41 points to top 1,000. She will become the 26th player in program history to hit the milestone. She needs to average 20.5 points per game to hit the milestone during opening weekend.
Ole Miss vs. Grambling Notables
-This is the sixth meeting between the Rebels and Grambling Tigers. The last meeting came during the 2011 season The Rebels won that meeting 73-56 in Oxford.
- Grambling has one player from Mississippi in Kiana Jones who's from Natchez. The Rebels don't have any players from Louisiana.
-Grambling is the first of four teams from the SWC the Rebels will face this season. Ole Miss will also face Mississippi Valley State (Nov. 16), Southern (Nov. 20) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 20). Ole Miss is 68-6 against teams from the SWAC.
-Grambling head coach Nadine Domond will be coaching her first ever game as a head coach when the Tigers and Rebels take the floor on Friday. Domond played under legendary head coach C. Vivian Stringer at Iowa.
A Win Would...
-Give Ole Miss its seventh consecutive season-opening victory and it's ninth consecutive home-opening victory. The win would also move the Rebels to 38-3 in home openers all time.
Rebels By The Numbers
2- The Rebels enter their second season under head coach Matt Insell. Insell, who is the youngest coach in the SEC at 32 years old, led Ole Miss to a 12-20 record in this first year at the helm.
8-Number of new faces on the Ole Miss basketball team in 2014-15. That number includes six freshmen and two transfers in Oxford native Erika Sisk who returns home after playing her freshman year at Murray State and Precious Person who spent two years at Rutgers.
25-Number of points freshman Toree Thompson scored in Ole Miss exhibition game vs. Christian Brothers. She led all-scorers and added nine assists, just one shy of a double-double.
41-Number of points Tia Faleru needs to reach the 1,000-point milestone. She will become the 26th 1000-point scorer in program history.
388-Number of wins Ole Miss has at the Tad Pad entering the 2014-15 season. Ole Miss needs just 12 home wins to reach 400 home wins in its 41-year history at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
Scouting Grambling
Grambling opens its 201-4-15 season under the direction of first year head coach Nadine Domond. The Tigers posted an 11-20 record in 2013-14 and finished seventh in the SWAC with a record of 7-11. Grambling has lots of new faces with seven freshmen joining the program. The lone returning player from the 2013-14 roster is Jaylan Bodiford who saw action in 28 games with two starts averaging 2.4 points. Last season, the Tigers averaged 69.5 points and 42.5 rebounds.
About Ole Miss
Ole Miss opens year two of the Matt Insell era on Friday morning. The Rebels return six players from last years squad that went 12-20 with SEC wins over Mississippi State and Auburn. Ole Miss also recorded its first SEC Tournament victory with a 63-62 win over Arkansas -- the first SEC Tournament win since 2010. Ole Miss will have eight new faces on the roster this season, including six freshmen. The Rebels also return the SEC's top scorer and rebounder in Tia Faleru who averaged 16.4 points per game and 9.4 rebounds during her junior season. Ole Miss will also have the services of Shequila Joseph, who started all 32 games as a freshman.
Recapping the Christian Brothers Exhibition
The Ole Miss women's basketball team used 25 points from freshman Toree Thompson (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and eight rebounds from Kelsey Briggs (Memphis, Tenn.) to cruise to a 111-43 win over Christian Brothers in exhibition action on Nov. 7Thompson started her collegiate career with a bang, scoring a game-high 25 points to go along with nine assists, just one shy of her first collegiate double-double. Thompson led four Rebels in double figures and was joined by Tia Faleru (Ozark, Ala.) with 14 points, Erika Sisk (Oxford, Miss.) with 13 points and Briggs with 12 points off the bench. Ole Miss' new look backcourt of Thompson and Sisk certainly didn't disappoint in their first outing, combining for 28 of Ole Miss' 51 first half points. Thompson led the way with a game-high 18 points in the first half en route to a 25-point night. On the rebounding front, Faleru and Briggs teamed with Bretta Hart (Poplarville, Miss.) for 22 of the Rebels 53 rebounds. Ole Miss was impressive on the offensive glass in the contest with 18 offensive boards.
Let's Get It Started
The Rebels will tip off the 41st season of women's basketball on Friday Overall, Ole Miss is 34-6 in season-openers and have won their last 11 season openers dating back to the 2002-03 season.
Home Cookin'
The Tad Pad is a tough place to play in and the Rebels have created a home court advantage. Entering the 2014-15 season, the Rebels have a 388-118 record (.767) on their home court. Ole Miss has only had two sub. 500 home records in the last 13 seasons. The numbers get even better for home-openers, as Ole Miss has only dropped a home opener three times in the last 40 seasons.
Moving Up the Charts
Tia Faleru has a chance to move up several charts during her senior season. The forward is approaching the 1,000-point milestone and is just 41 points away from becoming the 26th 1,000-point scorer in program history. She also enters her season with 20 career double-doubles which ranks eighth all-time at Ole Miss. With 11 double-double she will move into the top 5 all-time.
Faleru Earns Spot on All-SEC Second Team
Senior forward Tia Faleru earned a spot on the preseason All-SEC second team. It was the second preseason accolade for the Alabama native who also was a College Sports Madness preseason All-SEC second team selection. Faleru who was a C Spire Gillom Trophy finalist last year and a second team All-SEC selection last year, is the league's top returning scorer and rebounder with 16.4 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game.
From Coach Insell
Head coach Matt Insell talks about the Rebels prior to Friday's game vs. Grambling.
