The 1987 NCAA Womens Basketball Midwest Regional Finals between the Lady Longhorns from the University of Texas at Austin verses the Lady Rebels from the University of Mississippi….better known as Ole Miss.
The Lady Rebels defeated Auburn 56-55 in overtime in Austin, Texas, to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight for the second straight year. The Lady Rebs went on to lose to Texas 66-63 in the regional final….as senior C Jennifer Gillam recorded a double double by scoring 25 points and taking down 10 rebounds.
The Lady Rebs were led by head coach Van Chancellor….whose college and professional basketball coaching career included stops here at the University of Mississippi women’s basketball, where his teams made four Elite Eight appearances between 1978 and 1997….before making the jump to the WNBA women’s professional league as head coach of the Houston Comets….where his teams won the 1st four WNBA Championships in his 10 tenure at the helm in Houston….then in 2007, he went back home to Louisiana to coach the LSU Lady Tigers, when he led LSU to the SEC championship and then into the final four in 2008. In 2001, Van Chancellor was elected to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame….which is located in Knoxville, Tennessee…..then he was enshrined as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2007.
The Texas Lady Longhorns basketball team ended the 1984 and 1985 seasons with the number one ranking according to the AP ranking service….but failed to win the national championship both years….for they suffered injuries in 1984….while they went 28–3 in 1985….but were upset in the NCAA tournament by Western Kentucky. However, in 1986, things would end differently….as again they achieved the AP #1 ranking….but they also went on to win every single game….achieving a perfect record of 34–0….and posting the first undefeated season in women’s basketball during the NCAA era (since 1982) and the fourth undefeated season in women’s college basketball history.
We at ImaSportsphile consider every piece of video that we have of these Lady Horns players including G Kamie Ethridge, G Beverly Williams, F Fran Harris, F Andrea Lloyd, C Lynette Woodard, C Cindy Noble and G Clarissa Davis to be “nuggets of gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories….cuz this group of ladies was just PERFECT!!!
