Ross accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Mississippi, where she was a four-year starter at guard for coach Van Chancellor's Ole Miss Lady Rebels basketball team from 1978 to 1981.

Ross graduated from Ole Miss with a bachelor's degree in education 1982, and was inducted into the University of Mississippi Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.

At the time of her resignation in 2002, her Gators had compiled an overall win–loss record of 247–121 (.6712), averaging more than twenty wins per year, earning nine NCAA Tournament invitations.

[2] She returned to her alma mater, the University of Mississippi, to become the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels women's basketball team in 2003.

[1] In her first season, 2003–04, she led Ole Miss back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995–96 and was recognized as the SEC Coach of the Year.

[4] Ross served as an assistant coach of the USA Women's Under-19 team representing the United States at the 2005 FIBA U19 World Championship in Tunis, Tunisia.

Sparks general manager and executive vice president Penny Toler was named as the team's interim head coach.