Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Opens Regular Season vs. Mississippi Valley State

			OLE MISS (0-0, 0-0 SEC) vs. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE (0-0, 0-0 SWAC) Tuesday, Nov. 5 • 6 p.m. • Oxford, Miss. The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500)
Watch • Live Stats • Listen • Buy Tickets Ole Miss Game Notes (PDF) • MVSU Game Notes • SEC Game Notes

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss women's basketball opens the 2019-20 regular season when the Mississippi Valley State Devilettes come to The Pavilion for a Tuesday night showdown. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network +.

PROMOTIONS
• Schedule magnet giveaway

TEAM FACTS

Ole Miss Rebels (0-0, 0-0 SEC)
Head Coach: Yolett McPhee-McCuin • 2nd Season at Ole Miss (9-22) • 103-85 career record (7th Season)

Mississippi Valley State Devilettes (0-0, 0-0 SWAC)
Head Coach: Ashley Walker-Johnson • 3rd Season at MVSU (8-52) • 8-52 career record (3rd season)

ON THE AIR

Television/Online: SEC Network +
Play-by-Play: Seth Austin
Color: Lindsay Roy

OLE MISS RADIO

Radio: 105.1 FM
Audio: TuneIn
Play-by-Play: Graham Doty

SERIES AT A GLANCE
At Oxford: Ole Miss leads 13-0
At Itta Bena: Tied 2-2
At Neutral Sites: Ole Miss leads 1-0
Longest UM Streak: 10 (1984-present)
Longest MVS Streak: 1 (1978; 1981)
Biggest UM Win: 53 (11/16/14 - at Oxford)
Biggest MVS Win: 3 (2/11/78 - at Itta Bena)
Most UM Points: 97 (11/13/15 - at Oxford)
Most MVS Points: 70 (2/6/81 - at Itta Bena)
Last 10 Meetings: Ole Miss leads 10-0

SERIES NOTES

Series History
Ole Miss leads, 16-2

Current Streak
Ole Miss, 10

First Meeting
Nov. 22, 1977
• W, 86-67, in Oxford
• First win under Lin Dunn

Last Meeting
Dec. 28, 2016
• W, 67-30, in Oxford
• School record for fewest points allowed

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE

2018-19 Record: 6-24, 5-13 SWAC
• Eight newcomers
• Lost four starters and 62.3 percent of its scoring

TEAM NOTES

YEAR TWO FOR COACH YO
Ole Miss enters the second season of the Coach Yo era with Yolett McPhee-McCuin at the helm in 2019-20.

McPhee-McCuin took over a Rebel program that had just four returners and willed it to outperform all the preseason polls that had picked Ole Miss unanimously to finish last. The Rebels improved their SEC win total by two games from the year before, winning three conference contests – one of which was a thrilling 55-49 win at No. 16 Kentucky on Jan. 13. The win was the first over a ranked team on the road for Ole Miss since 2011 and the first win in general at UK since 2007.

McPhee-McCuin also mentored graduate transfer Crystal Allen, who in her lone season donning a Rebel jersey became one of the most electrifying players in the SEC. Allen finished the season third in the conference at 18.4 PPG and was named second-team All-SEC – the first Rebel to earn All-SEC honors since 2014-15.

BACK FOR MORE
Returning for the Rebels in 2019-20 are senior Torri Lewis, junior Deja Cage and sophomores Iyanla Kitchens, Mimi Reid and Taylor Smith. The three Ole Miss sophomores, however, were the only Rebel returnees to have seen action last season, as Lewis redshirted due to the birth of her son, A.J., and Cage sat out due to NCAA transfer rules.

FRESH FACES
Ole Miss will feature eight fresh faces this season:

#1 Sarah Dumitrescu • Fr. • G • 6-0
• Bucharest, Romania
• IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida)
• Dual citizen of the United States and Romania
• Four-star prospect by Prospect Nation (No. 49 overall), three-star by ESPN
• On 2017 U18 FIBA team for Romania

#3 Donnetta Johnson • So. • G • 5-11
• Queens, New York
• Georgia transfer; will sit out 2019-20
• Played in 27 games, starting eight
• SEC Freshman of the Week after win vs. #13 Tennessee
• #28 guard nationally out of Baldwin High School

#4 Valerie Nesbitt • Jr. • G • 5-8
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Chipola College transfer
• Averaged 17.1 PPG and shot 45 percent last year
• First-Team All-Conference
• Played on the Bahamian National Team under Coach Yo

#12 Jordan Berry • Fr. • G • 5-7
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Mount Carmel Academy
• Part of four state tournament teams
• Second-Team All-State in 2019
• Class Valedictorian

#13 Dominique Banks • Jr. • F • 6-5
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Gulf Coast State CC transfer
• Helped GCSCC win NJCAA title in 2019
• Shot 52.6 percent in 2019
• Averaged a double-double her senior year of high school at Maynard Jackson

#20 Jayla Alexander • Fr. • G • 5-9
• Pearl, Mississippi
• Pearl High School
• #1 player in Mississippi, #81 nationally
• 19.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 6.9 APG, 5.5 SPG
• 6A state championship game MVP

#25 Bryn Parker • Fr. • G • 6-0
• Scottsdale, Arizona
• Pinnacle High School
• Led team to 6A semi-state title in 2019
• 10.5 PPG, 9.2 RPG in 2019
• First-Team All-Region in 2019

#40 Andeija Puckett • Jr. • C • 6-2
• Griffin, Georgia
• Cincinnati transfer; will sit out 2019-20
• Part of WNIT team in 2019
• Played in all 35 games in 2018-19
• Top-100 recruit (18.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG)

REPLACING GREATNESS
Ole Miss will have to replace several significant contributors in 2019-20 after losing an excellent senior class last season. The four graduated seniors -- Crystal Allen (18.4 PPG), Cecilia Muhate (3.3 PPG), La'Karis Salter (8.1 PPG) and Shandricka Sessom (9.7 PPG)-- combined for 65.9 percent of all Rebel scoring last year.

Allen, the first Rebel to earn All-SEC honors in five years with a second-team nod, lit the net on fire, finishing the regular season third in the SEC at her 18.4 PPG.

MIMI DIRECTING TRAFFIC
Sophomore guard Mimi Reid was a true general on the floor for the Rebels in her first season of action in 2018-19, spearheading what was an efficient Rebel offensive attack. She was the only player in the SEC last year with separate games of 11+ assists (vs. Louisiana) and 11+ rebounds (vs. Western Michigan), and she led all SEC freshmen with 4.3 assists per game (sixth overall). Reid was also the most efficient shooter for the Rebels last season, knocking down a team-high 40.2 percent of her field goal tries.

AIR IT OUT, TORRI!
Senior three-point specialist Torri Lewis returns for her final year at Ole Miss after sitting out last year due to the birth of her son, A.J., and she'll be looking to pick up right where she left off from beyond the arc in 2017-18. Lewis, a career 34.1 percent three-point shooter, has hit seven or more threes in a game twice in her career. She knocked down a school-record 10 in a game vs. New Orleans as a freshman in 2015 (the third-most in a single-game in NCAA history), and during her junior year, she nailed seven against Alabama.

During that junior season, Lewis was on fire from downtown in the final month of the season, going 16-of-32 in a stretch from deep from Feb. 1-11. That season, 90 percent of her made field goals were three-pointers and 131 of her 150 attempts were from beyond the arc (87.3 percent).

Lewis enters her final season at Ole Miss with 103 career three-pointers.

VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
The three Rebel sophomore returnees -- Iyanla Kitchens, Mimi Reid and Taylor Smith -- all earned vauable experience as freshmen in 2018-19. All three started at least three games, combining for 41 total starts and a combined minute average of 19.1 per game. Reid received the most playing time, starting in 26 of 29 games played, while Smith tallied 12 starts of her own in 30 games played.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Ole Miss will be featured on national television five times during the regular season, with all five on SEC Network. First is a Monday night primetime matchup at Texas A&M on Jan. 6. Two more road SEC Network games follow at Mississippi State on Jan. 26 and Vanderbilt on Feb. 9 before a home TV tilt vs. Arkansas on Feb. 16. Ole Miss wraps up its regular season SEC Network appearances with a trip to Missouri on Feb. 23. Additionally, all non-televised home games and road SEC games will be broadcast on SEC Network+. The entirety of the SEC Tournament (March 4-8, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina) will air on a combination of SEC Network, ESPNU and ESPN2.

Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWBB, Facebook at Ole Miss WBB and on Instagram at Ole MissWBB. You can also follow head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin on Twitter at @YolettMcCuin

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Players Mentioned

Jayla Alexander

Crystal Allen

Dominique Banks

Jordan Berry

Deja Cage

Sarah Dumitrescu

Donnetta Johnson

Iyanla Kitchens

Torri Lewis

Cecilia Muhate

Bryn Parker

Andeija Puckett

Mimi Reid

La'Karis Salter

Shandricka Sessom

Taylor Smith

The University of Mississippi Athletics