Jan. 30, 2004
WACO, Texas -
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#16/19 Baylor (16-4, 4-3) vs. #25/RV Nebraska (14-4, 4-3)
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004 - 7 pm (CST)
Ferrell Center (10,289)- Waco, Texas
RADIO...
KLRK - FM 92.9 - Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Scott Fogleman (color analysis). Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to game time.
#16/19 LADY BEARS VS. #25/RV NEBRASKA...
The #16 Baylor Lady Bears (16-4, 4-3) will return to the Ferrell Center after two road games to take on the 25th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. The matchup with Nebraska will be Baylor's sixth ranked team in eight games. The Lady Bears are 8-1 in the Ferrell Center this season, losing only to then-No. 14 Colorado.
BAYLOR IN THE POLLS...
Baylor continues to climb up the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll, they are now No. 16, moving up three places from last week. Baylor, after breaking into the Top 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll last week, moved up from No. 24 to No. 19.
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 road win over No. 15 Oklahoma and a loss at No. 12 Kansas State, Baylor's record now stands at 16-4 overall and 4-3 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 16.7 points and 8.5 rebounds an outing. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 14.3 points and 6.8 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.8 points while senior Jessika Stratton follows closely with 9.5 points following back-to-back 20-point games (Kansas, Oklahoma). Senior Dionne Brown ranks third on the team in rebounding with 5.7 a game.
Baylor is outscoring their opponents by 21.2 points a game and is shooting a league-leading .480 (604-1259) on the season. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 58.0 points a game and a .345 (408-1184) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of the 20 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 20 games.
* Baylor has been outrebounded only four times in 20 games.
* Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of 20 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 17 of 20 games and scored at least 20 four times this year.
* Emily Niemann has hit a 3-pointer in 19 of 20 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 20 games.
* Jessika Stratton has averaged 20.5 points against Kansas and Oklahoma. She was 14-of-26 (.737) from the floor, including 8-of-10 (.800) from 3-point range in those two games.
* 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 48 times in 55 career games, including all 20 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.
THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, in her fourth season, has an 88-30 head coaching record which equates out to a .746 winning percentage. She has produced 20-win seasons in each of her years as a head coach and has taken the Lady Bears to postseason competition all three seasons, twice to the NCAA Tournament and to the finals of the WNIT last year.
Nebraska's Connie Yori, a 1986 Creighton graduate, is in her second season as the Huskers' head coach. She came to Nebraska after spending 10 seasons as Creighton's head coach. She is 22-24 at Nebraska and has a career record of 217-164.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The Nebraska Cornhuskers broke into the Top 25 for the first time this season after posting an 81-63 win over then-No. 9 Kansas State. The Huskers come into the game with a 14-4 record overall and 4-3 mark in Big 12 play. The Huskers are coming off of an 82-59 home loss to the 3rd-ranked Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night. In league play the Huskers have posted victories over Iowa State (62-57), Missouri (74-69), Texas A&M (65-48) and Kansas State. They have lost to Oklahoma (70-51), Texas Tech (68-55) and Texas.
The Huskers are a very veteran team with balanced scoring and rebounding. Their starting lineup features four seniors (Margaret Richards, Keasha Cannon-Johnson, Alexa Johnson, Katie Morse) and one junior (Jina Johansen). Keasha Cannon-Johnson, a 5-10 guard, leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 11.8 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Richards, a 5-9 guard, scores 11.7 points a game and hauls down 7.3 boards. Alexa Johnson., a 6-1 forward completes the Huskers' double-digit scorers with 10.7 a game. Morse, a 6-4 center, averages 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.
THE SERIES RECORDS...
Baylor leads the series 5-3 and has won three straight games. The Lady Bears are 2-1 in games played in the Ferrell Center. Nebraska's lone win in Waco came on Feb. 19, 2000 by a score of 82-61.
