10s of Oxford: Sports, Sports and more Sports

10s of Oxford are people who are inspirational in their leadership whether in Oxford or at University of Mississippi. This week’s 10s of Oxford celebrates our impressive athletes.

Tia Faleru

courtesy

Tia Faleru is a senior forward basketball player for Ole Miss women’s team. Faleru is arguably one of greatest athletes to play at Ole Miss. This season she continues to lead the Rebels with 14.6 points per game and pulling down 10.5 boards each time out on the court.

Her junior season she finished only 41 points short of becoming Ole Miss’ 26th 1,000 point-scorer and named a finalist for the C-Spire Gillom Trophy for best female collegiate basketball player in Mississippi. Her career best was scoring 31 points over Kentucky last February and she led Rebels to their first SEC vitory of the season in an overtime against Mississippi State.

In an interview with Daily Mississippian she revealed that basketball gave her direction when she was living in Ozark, Alabama. Life hasn’t been easy for her but basketball gave her a way to overcome struggles victorious.

She also said to the DM: “If I wasn’t here at Ole Miss, I would be back at home. I really wasn’t thinking about playing ball. It was something that just happened. I had a lot of Division I schools after me, but Ole Miss was and still is the best fit for me.”

This season will be her last. She wants to be a basketball coach, a legendary coach who will win national championship. Keep an eye out for her in the future, y’all.

Allison Brown

Allison Brown
(photo by Ole Miss Sports)

Allison Brown is a senior third baseman for Ole Miss softball team. As a native of Los Alamitos, California she came to the program not only because she thought the campus was beautiful but she liked being an underdog. She wanted to make the Ole Miss softball team into a SEC contender.

Her goal is to lead the team to the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament as far as they can in each tournament. She personally wants to become an All-American athlete as well as a team leader.

She is a force to be reckoned with in her softball career. Brown is the top returning hitter for Ole Miss after batting at a .338 clip last year. She also delivered 28 RBI with 28 runs scored to lead all-returning players in both categories.

During her sophomore season in 2013 she was named to NFCAA All-Region team with hitting the most doubles and second most RBI in Ole Miss softball single season history. She was also named to National Fast Pitch Coaches Association All-Region Second Team by the South region’s head coaches.

This year she will be the anchor of the Ole Miss softball defense. Starting today the softball team opens its 2015 season on the road at the Kajikawa Classic with two games today against Oregon State and San Jose State. They will also face No. 16 Arizona State, Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara and Western Michigan over the following three days.

Julia Jones

Julia Jones
(photo by Josh McCoy)

Senior Julia Jones is the team’s No. 1 singles player. She has risen through the ranks from No. 4 her freshman year. Her coach said that her playing style isn’t a “flash in the pan,” and that she can play well in tight spots.

Jones is a talented player, to say the least. She earned a career-high singles ranking of No. 20 in the nation after achieving a 10-3 record last fall, including claiming the ITA Southern Regional Championship and seven ranked wins.

“Julia had an amazing fall,” Beyers said. “For her to miss the first few tournaments and then come in and win the regional, pick up a few more good wins at our home tournament, and have a good showing at the National Indoor. She has positioned herself to get in the NCAAs, to become an All-American, All-SEC first team, those types of honors. She has a great opportunity this spring to improve on that ranking with our schedule.”

She has Mississippian roots through her parents who raised her in Jackson before moving to St. Petersburg, Florida when she was eight. Jones’ favorite thing about Ole Miss is playing for the fans. She is proud to wear red and blue, and we’re proud to have her playing for Ole Miss.

Callie Daniels is a staff writer for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com.