Head Coach
Sharon Fanning |
Mississippi State had arguably the finest basketball season in Lady Bulldoghistory in 1999-2000. Last season records fell game after game as the LadyBulldogs accomplished feats that no squad had done before in Starkville,Miss.
The numerous accomplishments that last season's Mississippi State basketballteam achieved speak for themselves. The team captured the program's firstNCAA tournament win and the second-straight appearance while garnering thehighest ranking ever. State had its first all-American following the1999-2000 season, while head coach Sharon Fanning earned SEC Coach of theYear honors after leading the Lady Bulldogs to the finals of the SECTournament, where they upset Georgia before taking Tennessee down to thefinal horn.
Despite the multitude of honors and accomplishments last year's MSUcontingent earned, Fanning still sees room for improvement from a team thatfinished 24-8. With a fine class of newcomers joining eight letterwinnersand three starters from last season, expectations are at an all-time highfor Lady Bulldog basketball on the MSU campus and the attention of theconference and the nation will be on Mississippi State.
Much of the attention will fall on the shoulders of standout sophomoreLaToya Thomas. The 6-2 forward made a name for herself nationally byaveraging a league-high 21.0 points and 7.9 rebounds as a true freshman.This season opponents will be keying on stopping the versatile Greenville,Miss., native after she accumulated first team all-America and all-SECaccolades to go along with her national freshman of the year and SECTournament MVP distinctions. With opponents focused on stopping the SEC'sFreshman of the Year, opportunities could be numerous for the other LadyBulldogs."LaToya is going to be keyed on," Fanning said. "So it's up to everyone elseto step up and take advantage of those opportunities."
Fanning has also contemplated moving Thomas to the perimeter from hertraditional power forward spot to take full advantage of her shooting rangeand ability to create plays.
The two departed senior starters will make the task even tougher on Thomasthis season. Gone are last season's floor leader Angela Harris and emotionalleader and defensive standout Nitra Perry. Harris averaged in double figuresin scoring last season while dishing out 5.6 assists per contest, whilePerry averaged over 11 points a game while leading the squad in reboundingwith 8.0 boards a contest.
"Our biggest challenge as a team will be trying to find a point guard toreplace Angela and finding the key ingredients of chemistry and leadershipthat we lost," Fanning commented. "Our team has to develop chemistry.Without it we will be average, but with it, we can be one of the best teamsever to play at Mississippi State."
One of the leading candidates to replace Harris at the point guard positionwould be Cynthia Hall. The senior was originally a reserve point guardbefore working her way into the starting lineup at the shooting guardposition last season. Hall is a solid ball handler and an outstandingshooter from the perimeter, as she connected for 12.7 points per outing lastyear while breaking the MSU record for three-pointers in a season with 82.Hall also connected on 39-percent of her shots from behind the three-pointarc.Hall will be counted on to contribute valuable leadership for the squad thisseason along with another returning starter, Jennifer Fambrough. Athree-year starter for the Lady Bulldogs, the junior from Dickson, Tenn.,will be called on to step up her contribution offensively and defensively totake some of the load off her fellow front-court mate Thomas. After asluggish start to the 1999-2000 campaign, Fambrough stepped up her play inconference action by contributing 13.1 points per contest and over sixboards a game and landed a spot on the all-SEC second team.
After Thomas, Hall and Fambrough, the other two starting spots are up forgrabs among a number of returning letterwinners and some outstandingnewcomers.
A top candidate to fill one of the vacant guard spots would be MeadowOverstreet. Her outstanding ability to bring the basketball up the floorcombined with her fine shooting touch from the outside make her a viablecandidate for either guard spot. Usually Fanning's first player off thebench, Overstreet began to make her mark during her junior year last season,knocking down a school-record eight three pointers in a February contestwith Alabama A&M.Second-year performers Keisha Stringfellow and Randi Williams couldchallenge Overstreet for one of the starting guard spots. Stringfellow willchallenge for the two-guard position after playing in 22 contests last year.As a freshman last season, Stringfellow showed a great deal of promise asshe provided a big spark in some key SEC games, including the Lady Bulldogs'near win over Tennessee. Despite seeing action in only 13 games a year ago,Williams showed excellent ball-handling skills and hustle that, coupled witha year of experience, could land her significantly more playing time thisseason.
The remainder of the competition for the guard spots will come from a numberof talented newcomers. Freshman Seneca Anderson of 3A Mississippi statechampion and nationally-ranked Yazoo County High School could immediatelystep in to one of the starting guard positions. After averaging 16 points,10 rebounds, seven steals and seven assists per contest last season at YazooCounty, Anderson now brings her game to Starkville where she will look tocontribute in the same fashion to Fanning's Lady Bulldog program.
Jessica Carter could issue a serious challenge to get the starting nod atthe shooting guard position. The Farmington, Ark., product brings a seriousthree-point shooting threat to MSU after averaging 23.0 points per contestat Farmington High School last season.
While there will be fierce competition for both of the starting guard spots,only one remains on the front court with Thomas and Fambrough solidifyingtwo of the forward spots. Courtney Graham would be a legitimate threat atthe other power forward spot after a solid year last season, but she willget a serious challenge from newcomers Dana Benemon and Lyndi Sippel.Graham could be limited by the fact that she only saw her first full year ofaction last season after battling nagging injuries two seasons ago.Averaging nine minutes a contest in 30 appearances last season, Graham addeda tough defensive presence on the blocks while contributing 1.4 points agame. A second year of competitive action under her belt should help hermake the 2000-2001 campaign a promising one.
Graham will have to battle to increase her playing time this season, as bothBenemon and Sippel come to State with impressive credentials. Although theyhave not been put up against some of the top front-court players in thecountry, Benemon and Sippel should both contribute immediately to a frontline that is lacking depth.
At 6-2, Benemon will bring a defensive presence to the middle at either theforward or center spot. An all-state performer her senior season atStatesboro (Ga.) High School, the Register, Ga., native also possesses goodball handling and scoring ability around the basket. Sippel, like Benemon,also possesses a 6-2 frame that will add height on the defensive front line.A two-time prep all-America honorable mention, Sippel will contribute goodshooting and rebounding skills for the Lady Bulldogs around the basket afteraveraging 13.6 points per game on 52-percent shooting last season for DadeCounty (Ga.) High School. Fanning knows that her newcomers will have to workhard and contribute for this team to go above where last year's teamfinished.
"Our freshmen have to strive to outwork the other classes," Fanning said."If they work hard enough, they can help us immediately. And to besuccessful, we have to have that."
The newcomers will have the chance to step in and contribute immediatelywith a schedule that is as tough, if not more difficult, than last season's.The Lady Bulldogs will have to develop their team chemistry very quickly, asFanning's squad begins the quest for a third-straight NCAA tournamentappearance with three-straight road games. The season starts off with atough game against the Memphis Lady Tigers. UM has always played the LadyBulldogs tough, amassing a 17-9 lead in the series, with a 13-1 edge ontheir home court.
The task doesn't get any easier, as Fanning's squad makes its way west tocelebrate Thanksgiving with a tournament hosted by New Mexico inAlbuquerque. State will face-off against a field that includes host NewMexico, Cal State Northridge and Nicholls State before coming back toStarkville to host Southern University in the home opener Nov. 28.After the opening tilt with SU at home, the Lady Dogs enter a pair of gamesagainst quality teams that will be seeking revenge for losses MSU handed tothem last season. Georgia Tech will be the first team looking to get back atState when they come to Humphrey Coliseum after Mississippi State defeatedthe Lady Yellowjackets last season in Atlanta, Ga., in the inaugural meetingbetween the two schools. Following the two-game homestand, the Lady Dogs hitthe road to Ruston, La., where the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters will belooking to get revenge on MSU for pulling off one of the nation's top upsetslast season in Starkville.
With the fall semester winding down for the State campus and exams underway,the Lady Bulldogs come back to the friendly confines of "The Hump" for theannual Mississippi State Classic, Dec. 16-17. The defending champions oftheir own tournament, the Lady Bulldogs will look to repeat against atournament field that includes Louisiana-Lafayette, Stony Brook and Howard.
State returns to the road for a mid-December showdown with in-state foeSouthern Mississippi down in Hattiesburg. The Lady Golden Eagles will begunning to snap a two-game losing skid against MSU, including a 98-94overtime loss to the Lady Dogs in 1999, the last time the two squads met insouth Mississippi.
Fanning's team takes a few days off to open Christmas presents and spread alittle Yuletide cheer before gearing up for a flight North to the capital ofNew York, Albany, for a return showdown with the Danes, Dec. 27, beforeheading to Poughkeepsie to take on Marist College Dec. 29.
State will get to ring in 2001 before starting off the new year with toughSEC home games against Florida and LSU on Jan. 4 and 7, respectively. Beinga member of the Southeastern Conference means facing national powerhousesweek in and week out until the end of the season.
That does not change this season as the Lady Bulldogs travel to Knoxville,Tenn., to face last year's national runner-up Tennessee in a crucial roadcontest at Thompson-Boling Arena. This time MSU will be looking for somerevenge of their own after Tennessee stole a last-second victory inStarkville and a last-minute SEC Tournament finals win last season.
After encountering Tennessee in the unfriendly confines of Knoxville, Tenn.,the Lady Bulldogs' schedule doesn't get any easier as they will make tripsto Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Florida.
Auburn entered last season with a 23-6 series edge over the Lady Dogs, butState took a pair of wins over the Lady Tigers last season, a 74-68 overtimethriller on an icy night in Starkville and a 10-point win at the SECTournament.
This season the Lady Bulldogs have added depth with an outstanding class ofnewcomers that complement a solid veteran core. According to Fanning, thisyear's MSU women's contingent will possess a great deal of flexibility bothoffensively and defensively.
Last season the Lady Bulldogs made achievements that no other MSU ladies'squad in school history had. Fanning doesn't want the achievements attainedlast year to be the peak of the success of Lady Bulldog basketball, and sheknows that if this team can develop chemistry quickly, this year'scontingent can reach beyond where last year's Lady Dogs left off.
"We have to improve as individuals and as a team," Fanning said. "It is soimportant that we work on fundamentals day in and day out and strive to bethe best that we can be. Everything else will take care of itself. Ourmental toughness will determine our success down the road."
The 1999-2000 season was a memorable one for the Mississippi State campusand the city of Starkville. The Lady Bulldogs seemed to shatter team recordsevery night in front what seemed to be an increasing fan attendance recordwith each contest. Each game seemed to bring about some individual recordthat had stood for years being broken by one of Lady Bulldogs.
While all of the records being broken was a big accomplishment for the LadyBulldog basketball program, the biggest accomplishment was that Fanning'syears of hard work and dedication were finally coming together in the formof a program that was making a name for itself not only in the highlycompetitive SEC, but on a national playing field as well. No longer thecellar-dwellers in the Southeastern Conference, the Lady Bulldogs have cometo play with the best in the nation and win.
At Mississippi State University, the new millennium is looking very brightfor women's basketball.
