Dec. 17, 2012

Game Notes

OLE MISS REBELS (6-2, 0-0 SEC)
Acting head coach: Brett Frank (SOSU, 1995)
Career record: 6-2 (1 yr.) Record at Ole Miss: Same
CLEVELAND STATE VIKINGS (5-4, 0-0 Horizon League)
Head coach: Kate Peterson Abiad (Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1991)
Career record: 123-163 (10th yr.) Record at Cleveland State: Same
Date/Time: Tues., Dec. 18 / 6 p.m. CT
Site: Cleveland, Ohio |Wolstein Center (8,500)
TV: None
Radio: Q93.7/105.5FM
    Talent: Graham Doty (play-by-play)
Streaming Video: OleMissSports.com
Gametracker: OleMissSports.com
Twitter Updates: @OleMissWBB
Series:
    Overall: UM, 1-0    
    Oxford: UM, 1-0
    Cleveland: N/A
    Neutral: N/A
    Last meeting: 12/21/11 -- UM, 74-63  
    Frank vs. Cleveland State: 0-0

NOTES:
• After playing seven of its first eight games of the year at home, Ole Miss will open a six-game road trip Tuesday at Cleveland with a 6 p.m. game.
• Ole Miss leads the all-time series between the two schools, 1-0. The Rebels posted a 74-63 win over the Vikings on Dec. 21, 2011.
• In the team's last game against Belmont, Tia Faleru led the team in scoring for the second straight game with 13 points. Valencia McFarland and Diara Moore each added 12.
• Ole Miss held Belmont to 48 points marking the second time this year and 16th time over the past four years that the Rebels have held opponents to under 50 points.
• Moore leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.6 points per game, followed by McFarland who is averaging 10.5 points per game.
• Danielle McCray, Kenyotta Jenkins and Courtney Marbra lead the team in rebounding. McCray is averaging 6.0 rpg while Jenkins and Marbra are averaging 5.6.  
• Junior point guard Valencia McFarland has recorded 860 career points and is looking to become the 25th player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points.
UP NEXT:
Ole Miss will play two games at the New York Life Holiday Invitational starting with host Hofstra on Friday at 6 p.m. followed by a game Saturday against Northwestern at 2 p.m.

SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State is 5-4 this season and is coming off a 66-59 win over Tennessee State on Sunday afternoon.  The Vikings are led by Shalonda Winton who averages a team-best 23.3 points per game and 11.2 rebounds per game.  Cori Coleman is second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.6 points per game while Imani Gordon is second on the team in rebounding averaging 6.2 rebounds per game.

Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Cleveland State, 1-0. The Rebels posted a 74-63 win over the Vikings in Oxford on December 21, 2011.

ABOUT OLE MISS
Coming off a 63-48 win over Belmont on Sunday, the Ole Miss women's basketball team will open a six-game road trip Tuesday taking on Cleveland State at 6 p.m.  The Rebels are led by newcomer Diara Moore, who is averaging 13.6 points per game and Valencia McFarland who is averaging 10.5 points per game. Danielle McCray leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.0 rebounds per game while Kenyotta Jenkins and Courtney Marbra are tied for second averaging 5.6 rebounds per game.  Brett Frank is in his first year as acting head coach for the Rebels. He has a career record of 6-2.

FOLLOW THE REBELS
Ole Miss' regular-season games can be heard on WTNM Supertalk Mississippi (105.5 FM) or Q93.7 FM with the pregame show starting 15 minutes before tipoff.  Graham Doty, in his second season calling Ole Miss women's basketball games, will be on the call.

Game updates via Twitter will be available all season at @OleMissWBB. All home games that are not on TV will be streamed online through the subscription-based RebelVision.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC STATS (AS OF 12/16/12)
As a team, Ole Miss is fourth in rebounding offense (43.1 rpg), fifth in free throw percentage (.698), fifth in three point field goal percentage defense (.272), fifth in offensive rebounds (17.0), fifth in defensive rebounds (26.1), sixth in rebounding margin (+6.1) and sixth in steals (11.9 spg).  Individually, Diara Moore is tied for 14th in scoring (13.6 ppg), Danielle McCray is 20th in rebounding (6.0 rpg), Valencia McFarland is 10th in assists (3.6 apg), fifth in assist to turnover ratio (2.4) and tied for second in steals (3.0 spg).  Tia Faleru is tied for seventh in free throw percentage (.778) and Diara Moore is eighth in free throw percentage (.773).

REBELS HOT FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
Through eight games this season, Ole Miss is shooting 70 percent from the free throw line while four players (with at least 16 attempts) are shooting at least 70 percent from the line.  In three games this year, Ole Miss has made at least 20 free throws per game. Ole Miss went 20-27 from the line in a win over Belmont on Dec. 16.  The Rebels went 23-41 in a win over SELA and went 23-27 from the line in a win over MVSU.  Ole Miss players have made at least five free throws in a game on eight occasions.  Diara Moore has made nine, eight and seven, Danielle McCray has made seven, Valencia McFarland has made six twice and Tia Faleru has made five two times.  

FALERU BREAKING OUT
Over the last two games, Tia Faleru has scored in double figures in both games and led the team in scoring in both games. She scored a career-high 17 points in a win over UMass and added a team-best 13 in a win over Belmont. In the last two games, she is averaging 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

MOORE LEADING THE TEAM IN DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES
Through eight games this season, Diara Moore leads the team in double-figure scoring games with seven. Valencia McFarland is second with six, followed by Tia Faleru with three.

REBELS CRASHING THE BOARDS
In Ole Miss' 63-48 win over Belmont on Dec. 16, Ole Miss recorded a 47-31 advantage on the boards. Diara Moore led the team with nine boards while Courtney Marbra added seven and Valencia McFarland recorded six. For the season, Ole Miss has a +6.1 rebounding advantage of its opponents and the Rebels have recorded six games with 40 or more rebounds. Ole Miss has only been outrebounded in one game this season.

HOLDING OPPONENTS UNDER 50 POINTS
Over the past four seasons, Ole Miss has held opponents to 50 points or under on 16 occasions. Most recently, Ole Miss held Belmont to 48 points in Ole Miss' 63-48 win on Dec. 16. Ole Miss has held two opponents to under 50 points this season (Lipscomb, 46 points in the Rebels' 68-46 win on Nov. 29) while the team held six opponents to under 50 points in 2008-09, four times in 2009-10, three times last season and once in 2010-11.

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Junior point guard Valencia McFarland has recorded 860 career points.  She is aiming to become the 25th player in school history to record at least 1,000 career points. If she accomplishes the feat this season as a junior, she would be the 14th player in school history to hit 1,000 career points as a junior.

McFarland also has another program milestone to keep her eye on during her career, as she aims to become just the third person in Ole Miss history to score at least 1,000 point, 500 assists and 250 steals. McFarland currently has 860 points, 294 assists and 128 steals. She's looking to join Carol Ross (1977-81) and Glenda Springfield (1975-79).