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Feb. 4, 2003

WACO, Texas -
Baylor (14-5, 3-4) at Nebraska (8-10, 1-6)
Wed., Feb. 5 - 7:05 p.m. (CST)
Bob Devaney Sports Center (13,500)
Lincoln, Neb.

COMING UP...
Baylor and Nebraska will meet for the first, and possibly the only time, this season. The two teams are in opposite divisions thus meet only once a year in regular season. The Lady Bears are coming off a double-overtime victory over Iowa State (95-83) in Waco on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Bears are 14-5 on the season and 3-4 in league play.

Nebraska, 8-10 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12, comes into the game fresh off their first Big 12 victory of the season. The Huskers posted a road win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, 73-51. It was the Huskers' first league win under first year head coach Connie Yori.

The Lady Bears started off the season winning 12 of their first 13 games but have since dropped four of their last six. Their five losses have been to Montana State, #8 Texas Tech, #20 Texas, #22 Oklahoma and Colorado.

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. 4 in the Big 12 in scoring with 18.5 points a game. Freshman Sophia Young (St. Vincent, West Indies/Evangel Academy, Shreveport, La.) ranks second at 11.9. Two other Lady Bears also average in double-digits in scoring. Junior Jessika Stratton (Colorado, Springs, Colo./Coronado HS) dropped out of double digits for one game but bounced back with 13 points against Colorado and now averages 10.3. Junior post Dionne Brown (Georgetown/Texas Tech) recently broke into double digits with her 13-point performance against Colorado, she checks in at 10.0.

Young, a 6-1 freshman, is the Lady Bears' and Big 12's leading rebounder grabbing 9.3 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 5.11 a game. Stratton ranks in second with 4.26 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 104 blocks. Steffanie Blackmon leads the way with 40, Melanie Hamerly (Orange/Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS) follows closely with 36 and Sophia Young has 28 on the season.

FABULOUS FROSH...
Freshman Sophia Young, a 6-1 post, leads the Big 12 in rebounding at 9.3 a game. A freshman has never finished the season as the top rebounder in the Big 12 or former Big Eight and Southwest Conference. Among all Big 12 freshmen, Young ranks No. 1 in rebounding, scoring, steals and is No. 2 in blocked shots. She is No. 5 in the Big 12 in field goal percentage (.572). Her 17 rebounds against Iowa State are the most rebounds by a Big 12 player in a league game this season.

THE OPPONENT...
Nebraska
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, 8-10 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12, come into the game fresh off their first Big 12 victory of the season, a 73-59 decision over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The victory broke an 8-game losing streak for the Huskers which began on Dec. 30.

The Huskers have two players averaging in double figures in scoring. Alexa Johnson, a 6-2 junior forward, leads the way with 15.6 points a game, while senior guard Margaret Richards checks in with 12.9 a contest. Three players haul down five or more rebounds an outing. Amanda Cleveland, a 6-2 senior, snags 7.4 a game while Johnson manages 6.9 and Richards hauls in 5.9.

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 62-20 in her three seasons at Baylor.

Nebraska's Connie Yori (Creighton, 1986) is in her first season as the Huskers' head coach, her 11th season as a Division I head coach and 13th season overall as a head coach. She owns a career record of 8-10 at Nebraska and is 178-125 at the Division I level and 203-150 overall. Prior to taking the helm of the Nebraska program, Yori spent 10 seasons as Creighton's head coach. Prior to that, she spent two season as head coach at Loras College (1990-92).