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Jan. 28, 2003

WACO, Texas -

UP NEXT...
Baylor (13-4, 2-3) vs. Colorado (14-3, 4-2)
Wed., Jan. 29 - 8 p.m. (CST)
Coors Events/Conference Center (11,064)- Boulder, Colo.

COMING UP...
Baylor and Colorado will meet for the first time this season. The Lady Bears hit the road after enjoying two games at home, while the Buffaloes will be playing their second straight home game after hosting Texas Tech on Sunday.

Colorado, 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12, started off the 2002-03 season by winning 11 of their first 12 games. Their three losses have come at the hands of Villanova, Kansas State and Texas Tech.

The Lady Bears started off the season in much the same way. They began the season winning 12 of their first 13 games. Their four losses have been to Montana State, #8 Texas Tech, #20 Texas and #22 Oklahoma.

THE LADY BEARS...
Despite having a young squad, the Lady Bears are posting some impressive numbers.

Sophomore Steffanie Blackmon (Dallas/Rowlett HS) leads the Lady Bears and ranks No. 2 in the Big 12 in scoring with 18.4 points a game. Freshman Sophia Young (St. Vincent, West Indies/Evangel Academy, Shreveport, La.) ranks second at 12.2.

Young, a 6-1 freshman, is the Lady Bears' and Big 12's leading rebounder grabbing 9.2 a game. Young ranks first in scoring, rebounding and steals and second in blocked shots among Big 12 Conference freshmen. Steffanie Blackmon is close behind Young with 8.3 an outing.

Chelsea Whitaker (Dallas/Skyline HS) leads the squad in assists with 5.38 a game. Stratton ranks in second with 4.63 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 101 blocks. Steffanie Blackmon leads the way with 40, Melanie Hamerly (Orange/Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS) follows closely with 36 and Sophia Young has 25 on the season.

FABULOUS FROSH...
Freshman Sophia Young, a 6-1 post, leads the Big 12 in rebounding at 9.2 a game. Among all Big 12 freshmen, Young ranks No. 1 in rebounding, scoring, steals and is No. 2 in blocked shots. She is No. 4 in field goal percentage (.572) but of the three that rank above her, the most field goals made-attempted is 34-of-58 while Young is 91-of-159.

THE OPPONENT...
Colorado
The Colorado Buffaloes enter the game with a 14.3 season record and are 4-2 in Big 12 action. The Buffs started off the 2002-03 season by winning 11 of their first 12 games. Their three losses have come at the hands of Villanova, Kansas State and Texas Tech. They are 7-2 at home this season, losing only to Villanova and Texas Tech.

Three Buffs are averaging in double figures. Junior center Tera Bjorklund leads the way at 16.5 points a game. Kate Fagan, a junior guard, scores 12.4 a game while senior forward Sabrina Scott averaged 10.4 a game. Scott leads the team in rebounding at 7.1 and Bjorklund follows closely with 6.5 an outing.

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 61-19 in her two-plus seasons at Baylor.

Colorado's Ceale Barry (Kentucky, 1977) is in her 20th season as the Buffaloes' head coach and the 24th season as a head coach. She owns a career record of 386-210 at Colorado and is 469-252 overall.

COMMON OPPONENTS...
The two teams have just one common opponent so far this season. Both squads lost to Texas Tech. The Buffaloes dropped a decision to the Red Raiders on Sunday (80-58) in Boulder and the Lady Bears lost 62-48 in Lubbock.

SERIES RECORDS...
Baylor vs. Colorado - Colorado leads the series 6-4 and lead 4-1 in games played in Boulder. The last time the two teams met was last season in Waco. Baylor posted an 80-69 victory in that contest. Colorado won the last time the two teams met in Boulder 85-66 on Feb. 2 ,2001. Baylor last win in Boulder was on Feb.20, 1999 by a score of 62-52.