Feb. 1, 2005
WACO, Texas -
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Game 19
Feb. 2 - 7:00 p.m. (CST)
#8/9 Baylor (15-3, 5-2) vs. #15/15 Kansas St. (16-3, 7-1)
Ferrell Center (10,284) • Waco, Texas
RADIO
1660 AM ESPN Radio
Rick May - play-by-play
Lori Fogleman - color analyst
Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to tip.
INTERNET FEEDS
Audio - live broadcast stream at BaylorBears.com
Video (BearCast) - live video stream at BaylorBears.com
#8/9 BAYLOR VS. #15/15 KANSAS STATE...
The 8th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears, 15-3 on the season and 5-2 in league action, will host 15th-ranked and defending Big 12 Co-Champions Kansas State on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at the Ferrell Center. The Wildcats enter the game at 16-3 overall and sport a 7-1 in Big 12 Conference record and are riding a seven-game win streak.
Baylor comes into the game having won 15 of its last 17 games. After opening the season with a 71-70 loss to then-No. 3 and currently No. 1 LSU, Baylor posted consecutive wins over Indiana (60-47), Mississippi State (66-49), Sam Houston State (84-53), Rice (77-65), Jackson State (73-56), East Carolina (80-59), back-to-back Big Ten champion Penn State (91-70), Washington (74-58), Florida (89-62), Montana State (92-47), Texas A&M (64-50) and No. 7 Texas (63-60) before falling at Nebraska 103-99 in triple overtime. The Lady Bears got back on the winning track by defeating the University of Oklahoma (78-68) in Waco on Sunday, Jan. 16 but fell to Texas (69-55) in Austin on Jan. 22. Most recently, Baylor posted a 74-52 victory in Waco over Texas A&M and eeked out a 67-65 win at Oklahoma State.
Baylor has won 12 straight at home since the Texas Tech loss a year ago (Feb. 8), the longest active homecourt win streak in the Big 12 and tied for the 12th-best nationally.
National Player of the Year candidates Sophia Young and Steffanie Blackmon lead the team in both scoring and rebounding with Young averaging 17.2 points and 9.6 rebounds and Blackmon right behind with 15.8 points and 8.1 rebounds.
The Kansas State Wildcats enter the contest on a seven-game win streak and have won 12 of their last 13 contests. The Wildcats are 16-3 on the season and sit atop the Big 12 alongside Texas Tech at 7-1. Kansas State's lone Big 12 blemish was a 78-59 road loss to Iowa State in their Big 12 opener. Their other two losses this season have come at the hands of Duke (63-51) and Liberty (77-56).
Three Wildcats score in double-digits and one more is just below that mark. Senior All-American forward Kendra Wecker leads the Wildcats and the Big 12 in scoring with 21.3 points a game and also is the team's rebounding leader with 9.6 a contest. Senior Laurie Koehn scores 12.2 a game, Claire Coggins, a sophomore, manages 10.7 and senior Megan Mahoney tallies 9.9 an outing.
MULKEY-ROBERTSON ACHIEVES 100 VICTORIES...
Kim Mulkey-Robertson has 113 career wins under her belt and it only took her four seasons and three games to reach the 100-win mark. Since she has only been coaching for four complete seasons, she does not qualify to be ranked among the NCAA Division I winning percentage leaders, as it takes five seasons to qualify. She owns a .748 winning percentage and has averaged 24.5 wins per year on the Baylor sideline.
DOUBLE TROUBLE...
The tandem of Steffanie Blackmon and Sophia Young in the paint has proven to be one of the most formidable inside duos in NCAA Division I. Last season the pair combined to average 32.3 points and 15.5 rebounds a game, which accounted for 39.7 percent of Baylor's scoring and rebounding. Over the past two seasons Blackmon has averaged 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds while Young has scored 15.5 a game and hauled down 9.3 boards over that same span.
So far this season, the duo has scored 43.8 percent of the team's points, 594 of 1,356 points. Young has scored in double-digits in all 18 games and posted a Big 12-high nine double-doubles while Blackmon has registered double-digit scoring in 15 contests with four double-doubles. The tandem is combining to pull down 17.7 rebounds a game, good for 42.1 percent of the team's boards. Young is averaging 9.6 a game while Blackmon accounts for 8.1. In Baylor's first game against the then-seventh-ranked Texas Longhorns, the tandem combined for 44 of Baylor's 63 points and 21 of the team's 39 rebounds and versus Nebraska they scored 55 of BU's 99 points and hauled down 25 of the squad's 52 rebounds
The tandem sits among the Big 12 Conference's leaders in both scoring and rebounding. Young is No.3 in both rebounding and scoring, while Blackmon is No. 6 in both categories.
THE SERIES RECORD...
The Feb. 2 Baylor-Kansas State contest marks the 13th meeting between the two squads. Kansas State owns an 8-4 series lead and has won the last four contests between the two teams. In games played in Waco, Baylor holds a 3-1 series lead.
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 2-4 versus Kansas State.
The Lady Bears' last victory over Kansas State came on March 6, 2001 in Kansas City, Mo., when Baylor prevailed 60-44 in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. In their only meeting last season, Kansas State defeated the Lady Bears, 85-65, at Manhattan, Kan.
THE LAST MEETING...
At Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., last season Kansas State posted an 85-65 win over Baylor. BU's Emily Niemann scored a career-high 23 points going 9-of-17 from the floor, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range, to lead the Lady Bears in scoring. Steffanie Blackmon recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Sophia Young added 12 points to complete Baylor's double-digit scoring.
For the Wildcats, Nicole Ohlde led all scorers with 26 points, 14 of which were from the free throw line. Kendra Wecker delivered a double-double with a 16-point, 11-rebound performance and Laurie Koehn and Megan Mahoney each scored 13 points in the winning effort.
