As women’s history month is wrapping up, we could not miss the chance to highlight a woman who has had a tremendous impact on women’s basketball at Ole Miss and throughout the state of Mississippi.
Angel Baker was recently presented with the 2023 Gillom Trophy, an award given annually since 2008 to the most outstanding women’s basketball player in the state. The trophy is named for Ole Miss All-American Peggie Gillom-Granderson and has been awarded to players in Rebel uniforms for the past three consecutive years.
Baker, an Indianapolis native, attended Pike High School, where she averaged 22.7 points during her high school career and was named Conference Player of the Year.
The 5’8” senior guard played for Wright State University her freshman, sophomore and junior years before transferring to Ole Miss in 2021 to finish out her college career.
Upon her arrival in Oxford, Baker fit right into the lineup for the Rebels, appearing in 31 games with seven starts. She dropped a season-high 24 points off the bench against Texas Tech, found 16 double-digit games and had five 20-plus point appearances.
Being the only Rebel in the 21st century with five 20-point outings off the bench, Baker rightfully received the 2022 SEC Sixth-Woman of the Year Award.
But she has raised the bar since then, increasing her scoring by 36% since 2022. This season, Baker leads the team in scoring and is the second leading rebounder, averaging 15.1 points and 5.4 boards per game.
Due to her eight 20-point outings this season alone, Baker surpassed the 2,000 career-scoring mark following a big win over Missouri on senior night, becoming one of only four Rebels throughout history to accomplish this.
The First Team All-SEC member has helped her team reach back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons. The Rebels have also made an appearance in the SEC Tournament semi-final game for two consecutive years.
Baker scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds in Ole Miss’ upset of No. 1 seed Stanford in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament last weekend. The Rebels face Louisville in a Sweet 16 matchup in Seattle Friday night.
