Thursday will bring another challenge for the Lady Bulldogs as they will prepare to take on the Alabama Lady Crimson Tide here in Starkville.Last season the Lady Bulldogs (13-6, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) defeated the Tide (8-11, 1-3 SEC) with a final score of 89-70 in Tuscaloosa.
“Alabama is a team with great balance,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Sharon Fanning said. “They cut well as a team, and they take the ball at you and guard hard.”
Senior guard Natalie Reshard will lead the Lady Tide. In her junior season, she appeared in all 30 games while starting each of the first nine outings.
Reshard also averaged 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. She was second on the team in free-throw shooting percentage (83.8 percent). She had 12 points, a career high, including two 3-pointers, in a win over Tennessee Tech. Reshard posted 11 rebounds, a career best, and a first double-digit total of her career against Southeastern Louisiana.
Reshard was the offensive player of the year for Niceville High School in 2002 and 2004.
Reshard played for the Seminole Lady Raiders AAU team that finished fourth and fifth in the 2004 and 2005 AAU 19-and-under national championships.
Sophomore guard Dedrea Magee also looks to be a threat for Alabama.
As a freshman, she scored in double figures three times and shot 50 percent from the floor while appearing in 22 games as a true freshman.
She tallied 10 points in just 11 minutes while shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor to go with four assists and four steals against Savannah State.
Magee was outstanding in two outings against Ole Miss, setting a then career high with 11 points in Oxford on Feb. 11 and bettering that mark with 15 points against the Rebels in the SEC Tournament.
She also got her first start against No. 4 Tennessee, scoring three points and grabbing a career-high six rebounds in Knoxville on Jan. 3.
Magee was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Mississippi following her senior season. Magee averaged 26 points, 7.5 rebounds and five assists per game as a senior. She was the Clarion-Ledger first team All-State selection and she was a Dandy Dozen selection by the Clarion-Ledger.
Magee played in the North/South All-Star game in the state and competed in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star game as a senior.
She led her team to district championships as a sophomore and as a senior. Magee was named to the All-South team in Mississippi after her sophomore, junior and senior seasons.
Sophomore guard Marneshia Richard said she is looking forward to the challenge the Lady Tide will bring.
“This game is huge for us,” she said. “We are going to have to work hard in practice this week.”
The Lady Bulldogs will also look to get back on track after a tough loss at Arkansas.
“This is a good game because we lost to Arkansas, and we need to redeem ourselves,” Tysheka Grimes said.
Fanning said there are several things the Lady Bulldogs must overcome before they can become a winning force in the conference.
“We must have focus, more energy and better communication,” she said. “We have to step up, get back on track and find a way to win this game.