Posted: Sep 26, 2021

Women’s Basketball Ranks Second On Mississippi Program Wins List Over Past Four Years

HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – When you think about powerhouse four-year women's basketball programs in the Magnolia State, your mind immediately invokes images of Mississippi State's recent run of dominance or Jackson State's most recent SWAC Championship, but Head Coach Eric Jackson Jr. has turned little ole Rust College into a force.

Accounting for the past four seasons (2017-18 to 2020-21), the Lady Bearcats basketball program has won a staggering 71.7% of its contests en route to a 71-28 overall record. This trails only MSU with a 107-20 record and .0.842 victory percentage throughout all levels of collegiate women's hoops from the NCAA Division I to NAIA levels.

Coming off an NAIA Tournament berth in 2019-20 and the school's first championship of any kind over the past 30 years in 2020-21, Shay Johnson, Jasmine Coleman and the rest of squad have its sights on much loftier goals in the upcoming campaign.

A rising star in the NAIA hoops circle, the Blue and White have averaged just under 18 wins a season, sit 43 games above .500, are ten percentage points better than the third-place program, and are one of only six programs out of 15 (40%) with a winning record during that span.

Below Rust on the list are NCAA Division One schools (Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley State), Division Two teams (Delta State and Mississippi College), Division Three programs (Millsaps, Belhaven and MUW) as well as a handful of fellow NAIA/GCAC foes (Tougaloo, William Carey and Blue Mountain).

Mississippi Women's Basketball Highest Winning Percentages (2016-17 – Present)

1. Mississippi State (107-20, 84.2%)

2. RUST (71-28, 71.7%)

3. Jackson State (70-43, 61.9%)

4. Millsaps (55-39, 58.5%)

5. Delta State (60-43, 58.2%)

6. MUW (28-25, 52.8%)

7. Southern Miss (55-56, 49.5%)

8. William Carey (46-50, 47.9%)

9. Mississippi College (33-58, 36.2%)

10. Ole Miss (43-76, 36.1%)

11. Belhaven (32-62, 34.0%)