Feb. 10, 2004
WACO, Texas -
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#18/17 Baylor (17-5, 5-4) at Missouri (12-8, 3-6)
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 - 7 pm (CST)
Hearnes Center (13,611) - Columbia, Mo.
#18/17 LADY BEARS AT MISSOURI...
The 18th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (17-5, 5-4) take to the road for two games as they face Missouri and Iowa State this week. Against Missouri, the Lady Bears are playing their second of three games in a seven day span (Texas Tech, Sunday; Missouri, Wednesday; Iowa State, Saturday. Baylor's only losses this season have come to teams ranked No. 15 or higher. The Lady Bears are 8-3 on the road this season and are 2-2 in league road games. Missouri enters the contest with a 12-8 season record and is 3-6 in Big 12 conference action.
Three more victories this season would give the Lady Bears four straight 20-win seasons under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson.
BAYLOR IN THE POLLS...
Baylor continues to be ranked in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll, they are currently No. 18, slipping one spot from last week after a 3-point loss to No. 9 Texas Tech. The Lady Bears broke into the AP Poll on Jan 5 and have been ranked for six straight weeks now. Baylor, after breaking into the Top 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll on Jan. 24, moved up from No. 19 to No. 17.
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 62-59 loss to No. 9 Texas Tech, Baylor's record now stands at 17-5 overall and 5-4 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 and has not relinquished it since. 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 16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds an outing and has scored in double digits in every game this season. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 14.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.5 points while senior Jessika Stratton follows closely with 9.5. Senior Dionne Brown ranks third on the team in rebounding with 5.4 a game.
Baylor is outscoring their opponents by 19.6 points a game and is shooting .473 (651-1375) on the season which ranks second in the Big 12. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 58.1 points a game and a .351 (454-1295) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of the 22 games this season and has been over the .600 mark once (Sam Houston State .661).
FAST FACTS...
* Baylor has recorded double-digit steals in 17 of 22 games.
* Baylor has been outrebounded only five times in 22 games.
* Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of 22 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 19 of 22 games and scored at least 20 four times this year.
* Emily Niemann has hit a 3-pointer in 21 of 22 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 22 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 50 times in 57 career games, including all 22 this season.
* Sophia Young has hauled down double-digit rebounds in six games this season and 23 in her career.
* Jessika Stratton and Chameka Scott each played 40 minutes against Nebraska.
* Jessika Stratton has played 40 minutes in five games this season, including the last three. Texas, Texas Tech (2), Kansas State, Nebraska.
* Jessika Stratton is averaging 38.3 minutes a game in Big 12 action.
BAYLOR IN RPI (WBCA/Summerville RPI)...
In the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA)/Summerville RPI report, out of 324 NCAA Division I teams, Baylor's RPI is No. 14 and its strength of schedule is ranked No. 32.
THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, in her fourth season, has an 89-31 head coaching record which equates out to a .742 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.
Mulkey-Robertson was named Baylor's fourth head coach on April 4, 2000. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame that same year. This past summer she was inducted into the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
Missouri's Cindy Stein, a 1984 University of Illinois graduate, is in her ninth season overall as a head coach, six of which are with Missouri. She has a career record of 161-99 and is 96-74 at Missouri.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The Missouri Tigers come into the game with a 12-8 record overall and 3-6 mark in Big 12 play. All but one of their conference losses have come at the hands of teams at one time or another ranked in the AP Top 25. The Tigers have suffered league losses to Kansas State, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado (2) and Texas. They have posted wins over Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa State. The Tigers are 6-4 on the season in the Hearnes Center and 1-3 at home in league games.
Missouri puts a veteran starting lineup on the floor with four seniors and a junior. Senior forward Evan Unrau leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds a game. Another senior Stretch James, a 6-2 forward, isn't far behind with 13.9 points and 6.6 rebounds. Senior guard Tracy Lozier completes the Tigers' double-digit scoring averages with 10.2 a contest.
THE SERIES RECORDS...
Baylor leads the series 7-3 and has 2-1 lead in games played in Columbia. Baylor has won the last three games and six of the last eight. As Baylor's head coach, Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 3-0 against Missouri.
