Women's Basketball Faces First SEC Road Test at Mississippi
1/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The women's basketball team (8-6, 0-1 SEC) returns to the hardwood Wednesday when it takes on Mississippi (9-5, 0-1) in Oxford at the Tad Smith Coliseum. The Crimson Tide will be in search of its first Southeastern Conference win on the road since the 2006 season. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. (CST).
"This team is ready for its first conference away game of the season," said head coach Wendell Hudson. "I think we did a lot of good things against Georgia, we just need to be prepared to continue to do those things in addition to shooting the ball better."
Last time out, Alabama led the No. 8/9 ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs for just over 28 minutes, and by as much as 11 points, but went cold from the floor for nearly 10 minutes in the second half. Georgia would take its first lead of the game with 11:45 to go and would eventually win 52-44. Juniors Varisia Raffington and Tierney Jenkins both notched their ninth double-digit scoring game of the season with 13 points and 10 points, respectively. In addition, senior Dedrea Magee handed out a game-high seven assists.
Mississippi also dropped its conference opener with an 86-72 loss at No. 18/16 Vanderbilt on Sunday. Despite the loss, four Rebels managed to hit double-figure points led by senior Bianca Thomas with a game-high 20. She not only leads Mississippi in scoring on the season, but is also the SEC's leader in points with an average of 21.1 per game. The Rebels also have two of the league's top ball distributors in junior Kayla Melson and senior Shantell Black. Melson ranks second in the SEC in assists with 5.8 per game, while Black follows directly behind at No. 3 with 4.8 dishes per contest.
Alabama and Mississippi split games last year with the home team coming out on top. The most recent meeting took place on Feb. 19, 2009, in Tuscaloosa with the Tide winning 67-59. Wednesday's game will be the 49th overall meeting in the series that the Rebels lead 31-17.
