The University of Mississippi Athletics
10-Year Rewind: The 2006-07 Elite Eight Run
11/16/2016 | Women's Basketball
This story appeared in the Georgia Southern football game program (Nov.5)
Written by Jessica Poole - Athletic Communications Specialist
April 2017 marks the 10-year anniversary of what some might call Ole Miss women's basketball's improbable run to the Elite Eight. Outsiders might call it improbable, but the members of that team knew that something special was brewing long before the nation saw the Rebels knock off the defending national champion, Maryland Terrapins in the second round.
The start of the season was anything but normal for guard Armintie (Price) Herrington, who was mourning the loss of her mother that August. Herrington admits it was a difficult start to the season. She wasn't really focused on the team because she was questioning her relationship with God and it was really a struggle for her to focus on basketball, but it was her teammates that rallied around her.
"The other seniors, Ashley Awkward and Jada Mincy were really there for me. They let me know that they were there for me and it really never became about the season, but it became more about my teammates being there for me during a tough time. Once I got past that difficult stretch and decided to dedicate the season to my mom, we just hit the ground running."
For Herrington and her teammates they had championship aspirations from the very beginning. Price recalled that head coach Carol Ross asked the seniors what their goal was and unanimously they said they wanted to "win a championship."
Coach Ross and the staff committed to the team that everything that they did that season would be to prepare them for their goal of a championship, but Herrington remembers that she didn't feel like the staff had to coach too much because the team - from seniors to freshmen - were so focused on that goal.
Once that goal was set they worked as hard as they could to get there but the road wasn't easy.
The team was so focused on the tournament that they looked as every game as a stepping stone to the tournament, but that's not to say the season was without adversity. Playing in the SEC always provides many "land mines" and that 2006-07 season wasn't without its issues and down the stretch the team needed to win some important games to keep their championship dreams alive.
One of those games was against rival, Mississippi State. It was the game before senior night and it was in Starkville. Rest assured it was an Ole Miss-Mississippi State battle to the end. The Rebels needed the win and laid it all on the line in enemy territory.
The game went to overtime and as luck would have it, Awkward found Herrington for a late tip-in to give the Rebels the OT win which helped strengthen their NCAA Tournament resume.
Despite a 21-10 record heading into night of the NCAA selection show, there were still some nerves.
Herrington recalls the moment they heard their name, saw they were going to play TCU in the first round and then saw Maryland would be the next opponent. Herrington said the room "stopped."
Flashback to the 2006 Junkaroo Jam in the Bahamas.
The Rebels and Terrapins had already met on the hardwood earlier that season and it was all Maryland. The defending national champions handed the Rebels a 110-79 loss, a game the Rebels remembered.
Herrington and her teammates looked at the teams they would need to go through to get to the Final Four - TCU, Maryland, Oklahoma and Tennessee - and needed to look no further for motivation. They were determined the committee wanted them to lose and well … it wasn't happening. They were ready to have the entire county talking about Ole Miss and to have the Ole Miss faithful say, "That's OUR team."
The Rebels picked up an 88-74 win over TCU in the first round in Hartford, Conn., setting up a rematch with the Terps.
"We were in the zone against Maryland," said Herrington. "We had so much fun playing that game. We really wanted to win for our coaches who played at Ole Miss. We wanted to do it for them. We wanted to see the joy our success brought them."
Needless to say the Rebels won 89-78 knocking off the champs and setting up a showdown with Oklahoma and the Paris twins, Ashley and Courtney.
"They were phenomenal players, but we knew that we could out run them and Coach Ross just kept telling us to fly around and play hard and that's what we did."
In front of a large crowd of Ole Miss supporters, the Rebels punched their ticket to the Elite Eight with a 90-82 win over the Sooners, setting up a date with Tennessee for a spot in the Final Four.
The Rebels ran out of gas against the Lady Vols, but it was certainly a season to remember and its one all of the Ole Miss faithful won't forget anytime soon.
