Nikki Byrd has found a fuel for her fire.
Renee Ladner hopes that fire continues to burn so that the University of Mississippi women’s basketball team will have a low-post threat. If it does, Ladner feels her 2011-12 team has a chance to climb much higher than where it was predicted to finish (12th) in the preseason Southeastern Conference poll.
“If we’re going to succeed at a high level, you always need a post presence,” Ladner said. “We have always had good guard play, as we do now. Nikki gives us a solid post presence. She is physical, she has good hands, she can finish around the basket, and she can step outside.”
Byrd is filled all of those roles at the highest level in her four-year career at Ole Miss. The 6-foot-4 senior center from Brookhaven leads the Rebels in scoring (14 points per game), rebounding (12 per game), and field goal percentage (56 percent). Byrd’s play has been a driving force behind Ole Miss’ 5-1 start this season. Ole Miss will try to make it five wins in a row at 2 p.m. today when it plays host to Grambling State at Tad Smith Coliseum.
“I feel a lot of confidence going into the games,” Byrd said. “I don’t know if it is just myself being more confident or me knowing the team is behind me 100 percent and I am pushing more for them. They have been the fuel to my fire. As long as they are fueling my fire I feel like I should return the favor.”
Byrd had her ninth career double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds) Tuesday in an 83-52 victory against the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. It was her fourth consecutive double-double.
Byrd’s rebounding is more than double that of her highest career production (5.3 per game last season) and nearly double that of her highest scoring output (7.3 ppg. in 2010-11). She has started all six games this season and is leading the team in three key categories despite only playing 24.7 minutes per game.
Ladner feels Byrd always had the potential to make these contributions. She said Byrd is playing with an “urgency” typical of a senior, and that she wonders whether Byrd put too much pressure on herself earlier in her career.
Regardless, Ladner challenged Byrd at SEC Media Day when asked what she could expect from Byrd this season, “A double-double. Is that asking too much?.”
Byrd laughed Thursday when told of Ladner’s comment. She said she had read the remark and feels it is just her time to do what she can to help Ole Miss get back to the NCAA tournament.
“There have been times where I have settled in and taken that role that I should have taken, and I think coach said she has seen glimpses of it,” Byrd said. “I have played up to my strength at some point and then I don’t know. But this season it has just been there. I have been trying to stay consistent.”
Ladner agrees consistency is the key. With sophomore point guard Valencia McFarland (14 ppg.) leading the team, she feels she has two key ingredients any team needs to be competitive. Ladner also feels Byrd’s play inside will make it easier for complementary post players like Danielle McCray, Courtney Marbra, Pa’Sonna Hope, and Monique Jackson to do more. She also knows having Byrd as a inside threat will open lanes for McFarland and give shooters like Whitney Hameth, Maggie McFerrin, Tia Faleru, and Amber Singletary more room to operate.
“I am really excited for Nikki because she is playing now the way she has always wanted to,” Ladner said. “She is playing with great effort. I have always said Nikki is capable of playing as well as she has.”
Ladner feels Byrd’s transformation started in August when Ole Miss took a seven-day, four-game trip to Canada. Ole Miss went 3-1 on the trip and had a number of players contribute, including Byrd, who had 18 and 15 points in the first two games.
Ladner said she “saw something in Nikki she had not seen before” in that she ran the floor hard, she caught passes off balance and scored, and she charged the offensive boards to convert missed shots. She believes Byrd gained confidence and realized she could do those things if she played that hard.
Through six games, Byrd has continued that pace, and she said she is going to do her best to make sure it continues.
“I am the only person that is stopping me,” Byrd said. “I feel I am more consistent now than I ever have been. I am trying to work on consistency because a lot of times I haven’t been consistent. That is the biggest job for me, to work more or less within myself and to be consistent for them.
“I feel my team needs me and I don’t have a choice but to step up because this is my last go-around.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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