March 7, 2005
WACO, Texas -
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Game 28
March 9 - 12:00 p.m. (CST)
#7/8 Baylor (24-3) vs. Kansas (12-15) or Missouri (10-17)
Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament
Municipal Auditorium • Kansas City, Mo.
RADIO
1660 AM - ESPN - Waco
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
TELEVISION
FSN Southwest (national broadcast)
Bill Land - play-by-play
Brenda Van Lengen - color analyst
March 8 (Tuesday)
Game 1: No. 9 Missouri vs. No. 8 Kansas - 12 p.m.
Game 2: No. 12 Colorado vs. No. 5 Iowa State, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 10 Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Oklahoma, 6 p.m.
Game 4: No. 11 Oklahoma State vs. No. 6 Nebraska, 8:30 p.m.
March 9 (Wednesday)
Game 5: Winner G1 vs. No. 1 Baylor, 12 p.m. • FSN
Game 6: Winner G2 vs. No. 4 Texas Tech, 2:30 p.m. • FSN Game 7: Winner G3 vs. No. 2 Texas, 6 p.m. • FSN
Game 8: winner Game 4 vs. No. 3 Kansas State, 8:30 p.m. • FSN
March 10 (Thursday)
Game 9: Winner G5 vs. Winner G6, 6 p.m. • FSN
Game 10: Winner G7 vs. winner G8, 8:30 p.m. • FSN
March 12 (Saturday) Game 11: Winner G9 vs. Winner G10, 6 p.m. • FSN
BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 TOURNAMENT...
Baylor is 4-3 in first round games, 2-3 in second round games, 1-1 in semifinal games and 0-1 in the finals. The Lady Bears are 7-8 all-told in Big 12 Tournament games, including 6-4 under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson. BU has won its first Big 12 Tournament game in each of Mulkey-Robertson's first four seasons.
1997
First round - defeated Oklahoma State, 68-62
Quarterfinals - lost to Kansas, 66-54
1998
First round - lost to Kansas State, 71-66 OT
1999
First round - lost to Missouri, 60-55
2000
First round - lost to Nebraska, 82-61
2001
First round - defeated Kansas State, 60-44
Quarterfinals - lost to Iowa State, 73-48
2002
Quarterfinals - defeated Texas Tech, 75-60
Semifinals - defeated Iowa State, 91-83
Finals - lost to Oklahoma, 84-69
2003
First round - defeated Texas A&M, 80-61
Quarterfinals - lost to Kansas State, 77-60
2004
First round - defeated Kansas, 86-71
Quarterfinals - defeated Texas Tech, 80-72
Semifinals - lost to Texas, 63-59
#7/8 BAYLOR VS. WINNER MISSOURI/KANSAS...
The 7th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears gained sole possession of the Big 12 Conference championship on Thursday with a victory over Texas Tech. Baylor is now 24-3 on the season and finished league 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.
• Baylor will try to become 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.
• Baylor went undefeated at home this season with a 14-0 mark. The Lady Bears extended their Ferrell Center win streak to 17 straight at home since the Texas Tech loss a year ago (Feb. 8, 2004). The streak is the Big 12's longest active homecourt win streak and tied for the sixth-best nationally.
• Baylor broke the program's all-time home attendance record with 95,688 fans this season. The previous record of 93,909 was established in 2001-02. That figure was achieved in 17 home games which included two postseason (NCAA) contests, Baylor accomplished the record in only 14 games this season.
• The Lady Bears also broke the Ferrell Center attendance record (men or women) with 10,550 in attendance versus Texas Tech. The team also set a record for attendance average per game, averaging 6,835 fans, the previous record was 5,525 per game in 2001-02.
• The Lady Bears have 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 11-game win streak ranks fourth-nationally. The streak is the second double-digit win streak of the year for the Lady Bears.
• 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 24-3 overall record is the school's best mark after 27 games since the NCAA began sponsoring the sport and second only to a 25-2 start to the 1975-76 season. That team opened at 28-2 and finished at 31-6. Previously, BU was 23-4 in 2001-02 on its way to a 27-6 finish. BU's 24 wins is the eighth-most in school history.
• In Big 12 Tournament games (five games), Sophia Young averages 22.4 points and 9.8 rebounds. She shoots 55.3 percent from the floor and 85.7 percent from the free throw line and has six assists, four blocks and 13 steals to her credit.
• Steffanie Blackmon became the program's first Academic All-American when she was named to the ESPN The Magazine-CoSIDA third team.
• Point guard Chelsea Whitaker earned her first Big 12 Player of the Week nod with her 16-point, 8-assist, 2-block performance against Texas Tech. Baylor players took player of the week honors a Big 12-high five times this season.
Baylor comes into the game having won 24 of its last 26 games and 11 straight. 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. Since the Texas loss, Baylor posted a 74-52 victory in Waco over Texas A&M, eeked out a 67-65 win at Oklahoma State, downed No. 15 Kansas State, 72-62, posted its first win in Lubbock since 1982 with a 52-49 victory over the Lady Raiders, narrowly defeated Oklahoma (73-72) in Norman, drubbed Oklahoma State 87-51 in Waco, beat Missouri 74-57, posted a five-point win (82-77) over 19th-ranked Iowa State, and claimed road wins over Kansas and Colorado. Baylor earned its first-ever Big 12 Conference championship with a 79-69 win over Texas Tech on Thursday.
National Player of the Year candidates Sophia Young and Steffanie Blackmon lead the team in both scoring and rebounding with Young averaging 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds and Blackmon right behind with 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds. Young is No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference in rebounding and No. 4 in scoring, while Blackmon is sixth in both scoring and rebounding.
Baylor, the tournament's No. 1 seed, will take on the winner of the first round game between Kansas and Missouri. Kansas is the tournament's No. 8 seed while Missouri is seeded No. 9.
Kansas is 12-15 on the season and 5-11 in the Big 12, and has lost its last three. Missouri is 10-17 overall, 4-12 in the Big 12 and has lost four of its last five.
MULKEY, YOUNG AND BLACKMON HONORED BY COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson was named Big 12 Coach of the Year by her league peers on Friday. It is her first league coach of the year honor. Junior Sophia Young and senior Steffanie Blackmon were both named first-team All-Big 12 for the second straight season.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
Baylor will play the winner of the Kansas/Missouri first round game. Entering the game on Tuesday, Kansas is 12-15 overall and has lost its last three games. Missouri is 10-17 and has lost four of its last five.
Both teams have three players averaging double-digit scoring. Kansas is led by Crystal Kemp's 13.3 points while Erica Hallman scores 12.9 and Aquanita Burras tallies 10.2. Kemp is the squad's top rebounder at 8.7 a game. Tiffany Brooks leads Missouri with 13.0 points a game. Christelle N'Garsanet averages 12.2 and LaToya Bond manages 12.0. N'Garsanet is the team's top rebounder at 6.3 a game.
Kansas' Bonnie Hendrickson is 12-15 in her first year at KU and 170-77 in her eighth year as a head coach. Missouri is coached by Cindy Stein who is 111-96 in her seventh year at Missouri and 176-121 in her 10th season overall.
THE SERIES RECORD...
If Baylor and Kansas meet, it will be the 15th meeting between the two schools. Baylor leads the series 8-6 and has won the last six meetings between the two schools by an average of 14 points. If Missouri is Baylor's next opponent, it will be the two squad's 13th meeting. The Lady Bears lead the series 9-3 and own a five-game win streak over the Tigers, winning those games by an average of 16.8 points.
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 6-0 versus Kansas and 5-1 against Missouri.
THE LAST MEETING...
Baylor posted a 74-57 win over Missouri in the Ferrell Center on Feb. 16. BU's Steffanie Blackmon scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Baylor. Sophia Young (12), Emily Niemann (11) and Chameka Scott (10) all scored in double figures for Baylor. Tiffany Brooks led Missouri with 19 points and LaToya Bond also tallied 10.
Baylor traveled to historic Allen Fieldhouse and came away with a 70-60 victory over Kansas. Blackmon led BU with 20 points and Young added 18 points and hauled down a team-high nine rebounds. Scott completed Baylor's double-digit scoring with 14. For Kansas, Aquanita Burras and Erica Hallman scored 24 and 21, respectively.
