Jan. 26, 2004

WACO, Texas -

For those Lady Bear fans that can't attend the game in Manhattan, live video is available online at baylorbears.nmnathletics.com. In addition, live video is available for all home games. Subscriptions are available for 6.95 per game, or 49.95 for a season pass that covers both men's and women's games.

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#19/24 Baylor (16-3, 4-2) at #9/10 Kansas State (13-3, 4-1)
Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2004 - 7 pm (CST)
Bramlage Coliseum (13,340) - Manhattan, Kansas

RADIO...
KLRK - FM 92.9 - Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Scott Fogleman (color analysis). Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to game time.

#19/24 LADY BEARS VS. #9/10 KANSAS STATE...
The #19 Baylor Lady Bears (16-3, 4-2) will play their second straight Big 12 road game when they travel to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. The matchup with Kansas State will be Baylor's fifth top 15th-ranked team in seven games. During that stretch, the Lady Bears have posted wins over 3rd-ranked Texas (78-64) and No. 15 Oklahoma (74-67) and suffered defeats at the hands of No. 2 Texas Tech (64-63) and 14th-ranked Colorado (69-59). Baylor is 8-2 away from the Ferrell Center this season, 4-2 in away games and 4-0 in neutral court contests.

THE LADY BEARS...
The Lady Bears finished the non-conference portion of their schedule at 12-1. Under fourth-year head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson's guidance the Lady Bears are 46-2 in non-conference regular season games. After posting a home win over Kansas and a road win over No. 15 Oklahoma, Baylor's record now stands at 16-3 overall and 4-2 in league play.

Three players are averaging in double figures for Baylor. With a career-high 27 points against Washington State, sophomore post Sophia Young moved into the lead for the Lady Bears in scoring and rebounding average. Young followed that game with the 19th double-double of her career with a 13-point, 10-rebound performance against Pacific and produced another double-double against Eastern Kentucky (21p, 11r). Young recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Colorado (14p, 11r) and Texas A&M (10p, 13r) and added another one against Kansas (20p, 11r). She is averaging a team-leading 16.9 points and 8.6 rebounds an outing. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 14.4 points and 6.5 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.1 points while senior Jessika Stratton follows closely with 9.7 points following back-to-back 20-point games. Senior Dionne Brown ranks third on the team in rebounding with 5.8 a game.

Baylor is outscoring their opponents by 23.4 points a game and is shooting a league-leading .491 (579-1180) on the season. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 56.6 points a game and a .338 (381-1126) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of the 19 games this season and has been over the .600 mark once (Sam Houston State .661).

FAST FACTS...
* Baylor has recorded double-digit steals in 15 of 19 games.
* Baylor has been outrebounded only four times in 19 games.
* Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of 19 games this season.
* Sophia Young has scored at least 20 points five times this season and 10 times in her career.
* Sophia Young has six double-doubles on the season and 23 for her career.
* Steffanie Blackmon has scored in double figures in 16 of 19 games and scored at least 20 four times this year.
* Emily Niemann has hit a 3-pointer in 18 of 19 games, hitting a trey in her first 14 collegiate games before failing to connect at Texas A&M on Jan. 10.
* Jessika Stratton has hit a 3-pointer in 15 of 19 games.
* Jessika Stratton has averaged 20.5 points over the last two games (Kansas, Oklahoma). She is 14-of-26 (.737) from the floor, including 8-of-10 (.800) from 3-point range in those two games.
* Last week against Kansas and Oklahoma, Jessika Stratton (.737), Steffanie Blackmon (.538), Sophia Young (.579) and Emily Niemann (.500) combined to shoot 54.2 percent, going 45-for-83.
* Sophia Young has scored in double figures 47 times in 54 career games, including all 19 this season.
* Sophia Young has hauled down double-digit rebounds in six games this season and 23 in her career.
* Jessika Stratton has made 31-straight free throws, last missing in the opener against Mississippi State on Nov. 21.
* Emily Niemann has hit 13 straight free throws, last missing against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 21.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats come into the game with a 13-3 record overall and 4-1 mark in Big 12 play. The Wildcats are coming off of an 81-63 loss at Nebraska on Saturday afternoon. The loss to the Cornhuskers snapped an 11-game Wildcat winning streak. Kansas State's other losses this season came in their season opener against Purdue (79-69) and against Penn State (69-59).

The Wildcats are a very veteran team. Their starting lineup features a senior (Nicole Ohlde )and four juniors (Chelsea Domenico, Megan Mahoney, Laurie Koehn, Kendra Wecker). Wecker, a 5-11 forward, leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Ohlde, a 6-5 center, scores 16.1 points a game and hauls down 6.9 boards. She also dishes out 3.4 assists and blocks 1.4 shots a game. Koehn leads the team in 3-pointers made (53), making them 44.0 percent of the time and averages 14.3 points a game. Mahoney dishes out a team-leading 4.6 assists a game and averages 8.1 points and 6.6 rebounds.

THE SERIES RECORDS...
Kansas State leads the series 4-4 and has won three straight games. Baylor's last win over Kansas State came on Mar. 6, 2001 in Kansas City, Mo. (Big 12 Tournament), 60-44. The Lady Bears are 0-3 in games played in the Wildcats' Bramlage Coliseum.

LAST MEETING...
The two teams met twice last season with then-No. 5 Kansas State posting a 65-53 win in Waco and a 77-60 win the the second round of the Big 12 Tournament in Dallas.

In Waco, Kendra Wecker posted a double-double with a 23-point, 13-rebound performance. Nicole Ohlde contributed 18 points, 10 of which came from the free throw line. Arlington native Brie Madden hauled down 12 rebounds. For Baylor, Jessika Stratton led with 11 points, Dionne Brown and Ebony Jackson scored 10 apiece and Sophia Young recorded 10 rebounds.

In Dallas, Sophia Young and Steffanie Blackmon each recorded double-doubles. Blackmon scored 21 points and hauled down a career-high 15 rebounds and Young scored 13 and pulled down 14 rebounds. Four players scored in double figures for Kansas State. Laurie Koehn led with 22, Megan Mahoney and Wecker each scored 15 and Ohlde tallied 14.