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March 18, 2003
WACO, Texas -
2003 Women's NIT
Baylor (20-10) vs. Northern Iowa (18-11)
First Round - March 20, 2003
Ferrell Center (10,284)- Waco, Texas
BAYLOR AND NORTHERN IOWA...
Baylor comes into the game with a 20-10 record after finishing seventh in the Big 12 with an 8-8 record. The University of Northern Iowa Panthers are 18-11 on the season and finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 12-6 league record. This will be the first meeting between the two teams. However, this will be Baylor's ninth game against Missouri Valley Conference teams. The Lady Bears are 3-5 versus MVC opponents. They are 0-1 against Creighton, 1-1 versus Drake, 2-2 against Southwest Missouri State and 0-1 versus Wichita State.
The two teams have two common opponents this season. Both squads defeated Iowa State. Baylor defeated the Cyclones 95-83 in overtime in Waco while Northern Iowa beat ISU 65-58 on UNI's home court in Cedar Falls. The Panthers suffered a home loss to Missouri (89-77) while Baylor beat the Tigers in Waco 71-65.
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. 6 in the Big 12 in scoring with 17.5 points a game. Freshman Sophia Young (St. Vincent, West Indies/Evangel Academy, Shreveport, La.) ranks second at 13.7.
Young, a 6-1 freshman forward , is the Lady Bears' and Big 12's 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. Steffanie Blackmon is close behind Young with 8.1 an outing.
Freshman Ebony Jackson (Arlington/Sam Houston HS) leads the squad in assists with 4.23 a game. Junior Jessika Stratton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Coronado HS) ranks second with 3.97 a contest and sophomore Chelsea Whitaker (Dallas/Skyline HS) dishes out 3.87 a game. Stratton dished out a career-high 13 assists against Mercer, Whitaker has had three games where she tallied nine assists and Jackson has produced two games with nine assists.
The Lady Bears have three players that combine for 125 blocks. Steffanie Blackmon leads the way with 46, Melanie Hamerly (Orange/Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS) follows closely with 42 and Sophia Young has 37 on the season.
BAYLOR SMASHES SEASON RECORDS...
Prior to the Texas A&M game in College Station, the Lady Bears needed two blocked shots to break the program's single season block record of 158. They recorded five against Texas A&M to extend their season total to 161 to break the record, they now have 172 on the season. Sophomores Steffanie Blackmon and Melanie Hamerly and freshman Sophia Young have combined for for 125 blocks on the season.
Baylor has also broken the singles season assist record. The Lady Bears have tallied 572 assists this season, breaking the old record of 507 set by the 1997-98 team. Three players have combined for 328 of those 572 assists. Jessika Stratton has 119, Chelsea Whitaker 116 and Ebony Jackson has dished out 93.
THE OPPONENT...
Northern Iowa
The Northern Iowa Panthers, headquartered in Cedar Falls, Iowa, like the Lady Bears, have a fairly young team. Their roster is comprised of two seniors, one junior, two sophomores and five freshmen. In addition, three freshmen and a senior are redshirting this season.
The Northern Iowa Panthers are 18-11 on the season and finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 12-6 league record.
The Panthers have three players that average double digit scoring. Katie Miller, a 5-10 guard/forward, leads the team with 17.9 a game. She is followed closely by Amy Swisher, another 5-10 guard/forward, with 17.1 a contest. Sophomore forward Alex Cook is the only player on the Panther squad to average a double-double. She averages 11.6 points and 12.2 rebounds a game.
A couple of interesting notes on the Panthers:
* Their five starters (Miller, Swisher, Cook, Emily Berry, Katie Sorrell) average 63.3 of the team's 70.9 points a game.
* Four of their starters play more than 33 minutes a game.
* Amy Swisher was named to the All-Tournament team of the MVC Tournament.
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 68-25 in her three seasons at Baylor. The Lady Bears have registered 20 win seasons every season with Mulkey-Robertson at the helm.
Northern Iowa's Tony DiCecco (Rockford College, 1979) is in his eighth season as the Panthers' head coach, he is 115-108 at Northern Iowa. Prior to becoming head coach at Northern Iowa, DiCecco was an assistant at Creighton from 1989-95.
SERIES RECORDS...
Baylor vs. Northern Iowa - This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
COMMON OPPONENTS...
The two teams have two common opponents this season. Both squads defeated Iowa State. Baylor defeated the Cyclones 95-83 in overtime in Waco while Northern Iowa beat ISU 65-58 in Cedar Rapids. The Panthers suffered a home loss to Missouri (89-77) while Baylor beat the Tigers in Waco 71-65
