Portland McCaskill (1992) - Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame

Portland McCaskill

Induction:
1992

Without question Portland McCaskill-Brown was one of the most talented and gifted basketball players in the history of Southern Miss basketball. McCaskill-Brown had earned second team All-American honors while playing at Mendenhall (Miss.) High School and was one of the most highly recruited players in the state of Mississippi her senior year. She elected though to come to Southern Miss and help Coach Kay James build the Lady Eagle program.
   As a freshman she immediately proved that she would be one of the team’s better players, averaging 15.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She was also one of the team leaders in assists (68) and steals (83), while leading the team to a 16-11 record and a spot in the National Women’s Invitation Tournament in Amarillo, Texas.
   In 1982-83 the Lady Eagles entered the Metro Conference and McCaskill-Brown was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder with 19.7 points and 10.1 rebounds, respectively. Again she showed her versatility by ranking among the team leaders in assists (89), steals (66) and blocked shots (26).
The Lady Eagles wound finish 17-10, but quickly establish themselves as one of the best teams in the new league.
   McCaskill-Brown’s junior year (1983-84) was another magnificent one as she again led the team in scoring and rebounding with 18.8 points and a career high 10.3 rebounds per game. She also set a personal high with 124 assists that year and a career high 93 steals. The Lady Eagles would continue to improve posting an 18-10 mark that season. McCaskill-Brown scored a career high 39 points against UAB that year, the third highest mark in school history and she would top the 30 point mark five additional times in her career.
   She would lead the Lady Eagles into the finals of the Metro Conference tournament as a senior in 1984-85 by averaging a career high 21.5 points and pulling down 9.5 rebounds a game. She would do a little of everything that season as she recorded 124 assists, 87 steals and playing over 1,000 minutes. Hosting the conference tournament at Green Coliseum, the Lady Eagles lost a 77-75 overtime decision to Memphis, but in the process earned their first ever bid to the NCAA tournament.
   She still holds school records for most points in a season (646), most field goals made and attempted in a game (18 & 28), in a season (278 of 581) and in a career (895 of 1,850); and most 20-point plus games (54). She was the first player in Southern Miss women’s basketball history to score over 2,000 career points and only the second female athlete inducted into the Hall of Fame.
   She was twice named All-Metro Conference, was the most valuable player of the 1984-85 Metro Conference Tournament and was named All-American by Fast Break Magazine.