Sideline View by Dale McKee

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - The Queen of Basketball passed away this week in the great Lusia “Lucy” Harris of Minter City. The Queen of Basketball’s story was told in a documentary that premiered last June at the Tribeca Film Festival. It tells the story of Harris and shows why she was so unstoppable on the basketball court. She averaged 25.9 points and 14 rebounds per game and graduated with 15 Delta State basketball records. She led DSU to a 109-6 record in her four years in Cleveland. Harris led DSU to three consecutive Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AWIA) national championships from 1975-1977. Harris was and still is the only woman to be officially drafted by an NBA team. The New Orleans Jazz selected her in the seventh round in 1976. She was inducted in the Delta State Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. Harris was also inducted into the Nesmith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, and she was in the first class of the women’s basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

One of the truly great sports announcers Ron Franklin died last week in Austin, Texas. Franklin spent his childhood in Hazlehurst before moving to Oxford and graduating from University High School in Oxford. He joined ESPN in 1987 and stayed for 24 years. He was also the voice of the Houston Oilers and the University of Texas before his ESPN days.

Mississippi State and Ole Miss baseball are ranked in the top five in the D1 Baseball Preseason top 25 poll. The National Champion Bulldogs, who are coming off the school’s first ever national title in any sport, are ranked No. 4 while the Rebels are No. 5. The SEC leads all conferences with six teams ranked in the Top 10 with Arkansas (No. 2), Vanderbilt (No. 3), LSU (No. 8) and Florida (No. 9), joining the Bulldogs and Rebels in the Top 10. The Rebels and the Bulldogs will open their seasons on February 15. The college baseball season opens in Mississippi, as Rust College will visit Tuskegee next Wednesday.

Hot shooting Mississippi State stormed by Ole Miss this past Saturday, 74-60, in the 266th meeting of the teams. The Bulldogs (13-5, 4-2) lost a nail biter to Georgia earlier in the week but outscored Ole Miss, 32-19, in the second half. State faces road tests at Kentucky and Texas Tech this week. Both Missouri and the Bulldogs blew out Ole Miss this past week. The Rebels (9-9, 1-5) begin a three-game home stand this week by hosting Florida, Arkansas and Kansas State. Southern Mississippi split with a win over Southeastern College of Laurel, 100-50, before falling at Middle Tennessee, 74-60. This week, the Golden Eagles (6-12, 1-4) will play host to North Texas and Rice.

Our three women’s teams are playing pretty solidly as we head into February. Ole Miss is having one of their best seasons in a while (17-2, 5-1). The Lady Rebels will travel to South Carolina this Thursday. Mississippi State (11-7, 3-4) and Southern Mississippi (11-6, 3-3) also are playing at a high level.

The ninth-ranked East Mississippi Lions collected their ninth straight win with a 77-73 road victory over No. 22 Jones College last week. East Mississippi is now (12-2, 5-0) while Jones fell to 12-3 overall and 4-3 in league play. The Jones College Lady Bobcats won their 41st straight home game and have won 19 consecutive league games.

NFL Playoffs

All four playoff games came down to the wire with three of the visiting teams winning on the final play. This weekend are the division championships with Kansas City hosting Cincinnati and the L.A. Rams entertaining San Francisco. This week’s winners will meet in the Super Bowl.