March 2, 2004
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#14/18 Baylor (21-7, 9-6) at Oklahoma State (8-18, 3-12)
Wed., March 3, 2004 - 7 p.m. (CST)
Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611) - Stillwater, Okla.
RADIO...
KLRK - FM 92.9 - Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Scott Fogleman (color analysis). Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to game time. In addition, Dallas' WBAP (820-AM) will pick up five Lady Bear home game broadcasts (Colorado, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Texas A&M).
#14/18 BAYLOR VS. OKLAHOMA STATE...
The 14th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (21-7, 9-6) hit the road for their final regular season game of the year when they travel to Stillwater, Okla., to face the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (8-18, 3-12) on Wednesday night. The Lady Bears come into the game tied for fifth place in the Big 12 Conference standings at 9-6 (with Oklahoma) and a game behind Colorado and Texas Tech. The Cowgirls were dealt a blow at the beginning of the week when its top scorer and rebounder, senior Trisha Skibbe, left the team for personal reasons. Skibbe was leading the Big 12 in scoring (19.0) and ranked No. 9 in rebounding (7.8).
For the fourth straight season, head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson has guided her Baylor squad to a 20-win season. The Lady Bears gained 20 wins this year by completing a sweep on No. 24 Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 22. Six of Baylor's seven losses in 2003-04 have come against teams ranked No. 15 or higher and three have been by three points or less.
BAYLOR IN THE POLLS...
Baylor continues to be ranked in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll, they are currently No. 14, moving up two spots from last week and attaining its highest ranking of the season. The Lady Bears broke into the AP Poll on Jan 5 and have been ranked for nine straight weeks (see week-by-week listings on page 11). Baylor, after breaking into the Top 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll on Jan. 24, now sits at the No. 18 spot, up three from last week. 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 dropping a double overtime decision (73-72) to fifth-ranked Texas in Austin on Wednesday night and posting an 80-55 win over Texas A&M on Saturday, Baylor's record now stands at 21-7 overall and 9-6 in league play. That record places them in a tie for fifth place in the league standings with Oklahoma and behind Texas, Kansas State, Colorado and Texas Tech.
Three players are averaging in double figures for Baylor with one more just under the mark. 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 two more against Kansas (20p, 11r) and Texas (18p, 13r). She is averaging a team-leading 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds an outing and has scored in double digits in every game but two (Missouri & Oklahoma State) this season. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 15.4 points and 7.1 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.0 points while senior Jessika Stratton follows closely with 9.6. Senior Dionne Brown is third on the team in rebounding with 5.6 a game.
Baylor is outscoring its opponents by 17.9 points a game and leads the league in scoring offense at 77.5 points a game. They are shooting .466 (829-1780) on the season which ranks second in the Big 12. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 59.6 points a game and a .355 (591-1666) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 12 of the 28 games this season and has been over the .600 mark once (Sam Houston State .661).
Sophia Young REACHES 500, NOW JUST SHY OF 600...
Sophomore Sophia Young, a 6-1 post, needed just five rebounds against Kansas to reach 500 for her career, she got them in the first half. She now has 588 for her career. Now, she's just 12 boards shy of 600 career rebounds
She became the fastest active Big 12 player to reach 500 career rebounds, attaining the feat in 53 games. Here's a breakdown of active Big 12 players who have reached 500 rebounds and how long it took them:
Stacy Stephens, Texas - 54 games
Caton Hill, Oklahoma - 61 games
Kendra Wecker, Kansas State - 63 games
Nicole Ohlde, Kansas State - Junior season
Evan Unrau, Missouri - Junior season
Trisha Skibbe, Oklahoma State - Junior season
Tera Bjorklund, Colorado - Senior season
YOUNG GETTING CLOSER TO 1,000 POINTS...
Sophomore Sophia Young currently has 933 career points. That leaves her just 67 points shy of the 1,000 mark. If she keeps on pace with her 15.6 scoring average, she would need at least five games to reach the mark.
THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, in her fourth season, has a 93-33 head coaching record which equates out to a .738 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.
Baylor seasons under Mulkey-Robertson:
2000-01 - 21-9
2001-02 - 27-6
2002-03 - 24-11
2003-04 - 21-7
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 CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
Oklahoma State's Julie Goodenough, a 1991 UT-Arlington graduate, is in her 11th season overall as a head coach and is in her second season at Oklahoma State. She has a career record of 204-92 and is 16-38 at Oklahoma State.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The Oklahoma State Cowgirls come into the game with an 8-18 record overall and a 3-12 mark in Big 12 play. They come into the game having lost nine straight games. However, two of their three league wins came over teams that beat the Lady Bears, Texas Tech (88-87 ot) and Iowa Sate (74-59).
Oklahoma State has four upperclassmen and a freshman in their starting lineup with Nicole Campbell (Sr.), Deidre Johnson (Sr.), Nina Stone (Jr.), Eliz Gomez (Jr.) and Destanie Sykes (Fr.) listed as starters. The Cowgirls were dealt a serious blow at the beginning of the week when its top scorer and rebounder, senior Trisha Skibbe, left the team for personal reasons. Skibbe was leading the Big 12 in scoring (19.0) and ranked No. 9 in rebounding (7.8). Skibbe's departure leaves Stone, a 5-7 junior guard, leading the team in scoring with 11.3 points a game. Christian Hood, a 6-5 freshman center, comes off the bench to lead the team in rebounding at 4.9 a game.
THE SERIES RECORDS...
Baylor leads the series 11-7 but Oklahoma State holds a 6-1 lead in games played in Stillwater. Oklahoma State posted a64-55 win in Gallagher Iba Arena last season. Baylor's only win in Stillwater came on Feb. 24, 2002 (62-61) on a last second shot by Danielle Crockrom. Baylor has won four of the last five and six of the last eight games. As Baylor's head coach, Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 5-2 against Oklahoma State.
