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Jan. 17, 2003
WACO, Texas -
UP NEXT...
Baylor (12-2, 1-1) at #20 Texas (10-4, 3-0)
Sat., Jan. 18 - 1 p.m. (CST)
Frank Erwin Center (16,079)- Austin, Texas
COMING UP...
Baylor and #20 Texas will meet for the first time this season. The Longhorns are undefeated in league play at 3-0 while the Lady Bears are 1-1. Baylor will be well-rested coming into the game, they had a bye on Wednesday and have played only two games since the dawning of 2003. This will Baylor's second consecutive top 25 opponent, they are fresh off a 62-48 road loss to then-No. 8 Texas Tech.
This will be Baylor's first appearance on television this season.
This contest will match two teams that rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the Big 12 in two team categories:
Scoring defense - Texas No. 1 (53.7) and Baylor No. 2 (54.4)
Turnover margin - Texas No. 1 (+8.07), BU No. 2 (+4.93)
THE LADY BEARS...
Despite having a young squad, the Lady Bears are posting some impressive numbers.
As of Jan 16, Baylor is leading the Big 12 in field goal percentage at .499, outdistancing No. 2 Kansas State at .497. The Lady Bears also lead the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage at .449 again, Kansas State is Baylor's nearest competitor at .408. The Lady Bears also top the conference statistics in assists (22.21) and assist/turnover ratio (1.39).
Baylor has four players that play 20 or more minutes a game shooting .500 or over for the season. Sophia Young leads at .553 followed by Melanie Hamerly (.545), Steffanie Blackmon (.541) and Chelsea Whitaker. In fact, Baylor's starting lineup's shooting percentage is 52.1 percent: Blackmon, Young, Whitaker, Stratton (.494) and Richards (.456).
Sophomore Steffanie Blackmon (Dallas/Rowlett HS) leads the Lady Bears and ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 in scoring with 19.7 points a game. Two others are averaging in double-digits as well. Freshman Sophia Young (St. Vincent, West Indies/Evangel Academy, Shreveport, La.) ranks second at 11.8 and junior guard Jessika Stratton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Coronado HS) follows closely with 11.0 an outing.
Young, a 6-1 freshman, is the Lady Bears' leading rebounder grabbing 9.4 a game. Young ranks first in scoring, rebounding and steals and second in blocked shots among Big 12 Conference freshmen. Young also leads all Big 12 players in rebounding. Steffanie Blackmon is close behind Young with 8.2 an outing.
Chelsea Whitaker (Dallas/Skyline HS) leads the squad in assists with 5.64 a game. Stratton ranks in second with 4.86 a contest. Stratton dished out a career-high 13 assists against Mercer and Whitaker has had three games where she tallied nine assists.
The Lady Bears have three players that combine for 89 blocks. Steffanie Blackmon leads the way with 36, Melanie Hamerly follows closely with 34 and Sophia Young has 19 on the season.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL STATS...
Baylor ranks in top five nationally in six categories and in the top 15 in nine areas.
Team
#1 - Assists per game - 22.2
#2 - Scoring margin - 29.0
#2 - 3-Pt. Field goal pct. - .449
#2 - Field goal pct. defense - 31.6
#3 - Blocked shots per game - 7.6
#4 - Scoring offense - 84.2
#7 - Field goal pct. - .499
#12 - Steals per game - 13.4
#14 - Rebounding margin - +8.8
Individual
Free throw pct. - #15, Jessika Stratton (.900)
Blocks per game - #15, Steffanie Blackmon (2.6); #18, Melanie Hamerly (2.4)
THE OPPONENT...
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns enter the game with a 10-4 season record and are 3-0 in the Big 12 after posting a 74-47 road victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday evening. Junior post Stacy Stephens scored 18 points and hauled down nine rebounds to lead the Lady Raiders over Texas A&M. Guard Tai Dillard and forward Kala Bowers also scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
Four Longhorns are averaging in double figures. Stacey Stephens, a a 6-1 junior post, leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 13.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. Sophomore forward Heather Schreiber follows closely with 12.1 points and 7.5 boards a contest. ROunding out double-digit scoring for Texas is Jamie Carey with 10.6 a game and Kala Bowers at 10.1.
THE COACHES...
In just her third season as Baylor's head coach, Kim Mulkey-Robertson has led the Lady Bears to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, a final national ranking of No. 7 last season and a second place finish in the highly-competitive Big 12 Conference. The 2000 inductee to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame has a career record of 60-17 in her two-plus seasons at Baylor.
Texas' Jody Conradt (Baylor, 1963) is in her 27th season as the Longhorns' head coach. She owns a career record of 681-200 at Texas and is 798-262 in her career (34 years).
