March 20, 2005

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Game 32:
March 21 - 8 p.m. (CST)
#5/6 Baylor (28-3) vs. Oregon (21-9)v

2005 NCAA Tournament
Second Round
Bank of America Arena • Seattle, Wash.

RADIO
1660 AM - ESPN - Waco

Rick May - play-by-play
Phyllis Gamble - color analyst
Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to tip.

INTERNET FEEDS
Audio - live broadcast stream at BaylorBears.com

TELEVISION
ESPN2 - Regional
Dave Revsine - play-by-play
Mary Murphy - color analyst
Rob Stone - sideline

TELEVISION COVERAGE... ESPN2 will televise the Baylor/Oregon game in the home markets of the competing teams and ESPNU will offer a simulcast as well. Viewers who want all early-round games in their entirety can receive them through ESPN FULL COURT, the out-of-market pay-per-view package.

Fans are urged to check their local listings.

BAYLOR VS. OREGON...
Baylor is competing in its fourth NCAA Tournament and all four appearances have come since Kim Mulkey-Robertson assumed the reins of the Lady Bear program. The fifth-ranked Lady Bears come into the contest riding a school record 15-game win streak and sporting a 28-3 record. This season the Lady Bears won the program's first conference championship and also claimed the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Junior forward Sophia Young was named the tournament's MVP and senior post Steffanie Blackmon was named to the all-tournament team. Young leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds a game while Blackmon averages 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.

The 10th-seeded Oregon Ducks, 21-9 on the season, advanced to the second round by posting a 58-55 victory over No. 7 seed TCU on Saturday afternoon . The Ducks, with four seniors in their starting lineup, have won three of their last four games and five of their last seven.

Oregon is led by its inside tandem of Cathrine Kraayeveld and Andrea Bills. The duo combines for 15.4 rebounds and 26.3 points a game. Kraayeveld leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 14.7 points and 8.3 rebounds a game while Bills manages 11.6 points and 7.1 rebounds.

THE COACHES...
Baylor's Kim Mulkey-Robertson is in her fifth season as a head coach and owns a 126-38 (.768) career record. In 2005 she guided the Lady Bears to the program's first-ever Big 12 regular season and tournament championship. Under her guidance, Baylor is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance.

Oregon's Bev Smith is in her fourth season as head coach at her alma mater. She came to Oregon after serving as coach of the Canadian National team and spent 15 years in the Italian pro leagues. She is 69-53 (.566) at Oregon.

BAYLOR BITS...
The 5th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with Saturday's 91-70 victory over Illinois State. Baylor, 2005 Big 12 champions, is now 28-3 on the season and finished Big 12 Conference play with a program-best 14-2 mark. The 2004-05 crown is Baylor's first-ever women's basketball conference title and its ninth Big 12 crown in school history overall. This season also marked the program's first conference tournament title.

• BU has shot 50 percent or better in 11 of 31 games this season and is 11-0 in those games.
• BU has shot 50 percent or higher from three-point range in eight games, winning every game.
• Today's game marks the first Monday game this season for the Lady Bears.
• BU will be making its 15th television appearance on Monday, its fourth on ESPN2 of the season.
• The Lady Bears are 12-2 this season in televised games.
• Baylor is 7-2 versus ranked teams this season, two losses came against LSU and Texas.
• Baylor became the sixth team to win both the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles in the same season. Texas Tech swept both crowns in 1997-98 and 1998-99, while Iowa State accomplished that feat in 1999-2000. Oklahoma accomplished both in 2001-02, as did Texas in 2002-03.
• The Lady Bears won 11 straight league games for the first time in school history. BU posted six straight league wins to close out its 2001-02 conference slate.
• Baylor's current 15-game win streak ranks third-nationally. The streak is the second double-digit win string of the year for the Lady Bears, who earlier won 12 straight contests.
• With 15 straight victories, Baylor broke the program's win streak record. The 2000-01 squad, Mulkey-Robertson's first team at Baylor, previously held the record winning 13 consecutive games.
• With its win over Illinois State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Baylor established a new season win total (28) with Mulkey-Robertson as a head coach, the 2001-02 squad finished the season at 27-6.
• BU claimed the program's fifth straight 20-win season, sixth 20-win season since the NCAA began sponsoring women's basketball in 1981-82 and 11th in school history with its victory over Missouri on Feb. 16.
• With 14 Big 12 wins this season, Baylor broke its all-time conference wins mark. The Lady Bears finished the 2002 portion of their Big 12 slate at 12-4.
• BU's 28-3 overall record is the school's best mark after 31 games since the NCAA began sponsoring the sport and equal to a 28-3 start to the 1975-76 season. That team opened at 28-3 and finished at 31-6. Previously, BU was 23-4 in 2001-02 on its way to a 27-6 finish.
• BU's 28 wins is the sixth-most in school history.
• At 28 wins after its victory over Illinois State, BU has posted its most wins since the NCAA began sponsoring women's basketball and its highest total since recording 29 wins in 1980-81.
• In the 2005 Big 12 Tournament (three games) Sophia Young averaged 18.0 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 52.6 percent from the floor and had 13 assists and seven steals en route to MVP honors.
• Sophia Young was named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's 10-member All-America team, Baylor's first honoree.
• Steffanie Blackmon became the program's first Academic All-American when she was named to the ESPN The Magazine-CoSIDA third team.
• Steffanie Blackmon has been selected to play in WBCA All-Star game. She joins former Lady Bears Sheila Lambert and Danielle Crockrom in participating in the event.
• Steffanie Blackmon and Sophia Young are two of 17 in the final Wooden Award list.
• Steffanie Blackmon and Sophia Young were named Kodak All-Region.
• Baylor comes into the game having won 28 of its last 30 games and a school-record 15 straight.
• Baylor is 6-2 in games decided by five or fewer points after going 1-5 in such games a year ago.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS...
Two of the top career rebounding tandems in NCAA Division I are matched up against each other in this second round game. Baylor and Oregon each have teammates with more than 700 career rebounds: Baylor - Sophia Young, 942; Steffanie Blackmon, 909 = 1,851 Oregon - Andrea Bills, 821; Cathrine Kraayeveld, 766 = 1,587

LADY BEARS IN BANK OF AMERICA ARENA...
The Lady Bears appear to like Washington's Bank of America Arena. Baylor played the Washington Huskies on Dec. 15 and posted a 74-58 victory.

In two games in the arena this season Baylor is shooting 52.4 percent (62-118) from the floor, 50 percent (17-34) from 3-point range and 72.7 percent (24-33) from the free throw line, while averaging 82.5 points per game.

THE SERIES RECORD...
This will be the first meeting between Baylor and Oregon.

Baylor has played nine Pacific-10 schools and is 8-8 against those institutions. Baylor is 0-1 versus both Arizona and California, 0-2 versus Oregon State, 1-1 against both USC and Washington State, owns a 1-0 mark versus Arizona State, Stanford and Washington and is 3-2 against UCLA.