There are lots of basketball and baseball notes from last week’s hectic Mississippi sports scene.
The Ole Miss Lady Rebels (23-8) won over Texas A&M in their initial action in the SEC tournament but fell to No. 1 South Carolina (31-0) in the semifinals. Ole Miss will now wait until Selection Sunday on March 12 to hear its name called when the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball March Madness bracket will be unveiled. Ole Miss (11-20) lost to Missouri on Saturday and will now turn their attention to the SEC Tournament, which will begin in Nashville on Wednesday. Ole Miss will enter as the No. 13 seed and face the No. 12 seed South Carolina at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.
The MSU Bulldogs fell to Vandy in their final regular season game but remain in the mix to try and earn an NCAA Tournament berth. The Bulldogs will attempt to do just that starting Thursday when they begin play in the SEC Tournament. State will face Florida on Thursday at noon with the winner advancing to meet No. 1 seed Alabama. The Lady Bulldogs (21-10) fell to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament and will now have to wait until March 12 to find out if they will be invited to the NCAA tournament.
The Southern Mississippi men’s team fell to South Alabama in the Sun Belt tournament this past Saturday. The Golden Eagles (25-7) earned an automatic berth to the National Invitational Tournament after winning the Sun Belt regular season title. They will await their fate on March 12 after the selection show. The USM Lady Eagles (21-10) fell to Texas State in the Sun Belt Conference tournament and now must await the decision of the WNIT committee next week to see if they will play again. If not, the Lady Eagles will go down in the program’s history books as the squad tied the best conference win totals with 13 and clinched a share of the conference title for the first time since 1993-94.
Jackson State’s Lady Tigers won their fourth consecutive SWAC regular season title while Alcorn claimed the men’s title for the second straight year and 18th in school history. JSU Lady Tigers will play on Wednesday against Grambling while Alcorn will play right after that game against Texas Southern. The only other Mississippi team to make the SWAC tournament was the JSU men, who will play Thursday versus Prairie View in Birmingham. The championship games will be played on Sunday.
The Jones College Lady Bobcats (25-3) won their seventh straight Region 23 basketball championship to qualify for the National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, later this month, as they downed Pearl River, 59-51, in the title game. Meridian took the Region 23 Men’s title with a 70-57 win over Jones to earn a trip to Hutchinson, Kansas, for the national tournament in two weeks.
The MHSAA crowned their champions this past weekend as Germantown, West Jones, Louisville, Booneville, Lake and Ingomar won girls’ titles. Northwest Rankin, Hattiesburg, Yazoo City, Booneville, Coahoma County and McEvans claimed the boys’ titles.
Ole Miss baseball won the championship as they downed Maryland, Minnesota and Nebraska in the Cambria College Classic last weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Ole Miss returns home this week to host Southern Miss on March 7 and Purdue for a weekend series from March 10-12.
Mississippi State downed Southern Mississippi in Pearl before traveling to Texas for the Frisco College Baseball Classic. The Bulldogs fell to Ohio State and Oklahoma before finishing off California. The Bulldogs (7-5) will host Valparaiso in a single contest before entertaining Lipscomb over the weekend.
Southern Mississippi won their weekend series over a strong Dallas Baptist team in last weekend’s action. The Golden Eagles (8-3) will host Valparaiso this weekend.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show that will be aired this Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest will be Ole Miss legend Jake Gibbs. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome, go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube to listen to archived shows. Dale has been writing sports since 1973.
