March 15, 2006
WACO, Texas -
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Game 31 - NCAA Tournament - First Round
#10/10 Baylor (24-6) vs. Northern Arizona (22-10)
March 18, 2006 • 7:17 p.m. (CST)
McKale Memorial Arena (14,545 ) - Tucson, Ariz.
RADIO - KRZI/ESPN 1660 AM
Baylor/ISP Sports Network
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 - ESPN2
Ron Franklin - play-by-play
Fran Franschilla - color analyst
Alex Flanagan - sideline
ALBUQUERQUE REGIONAL, TUCSON MATCHUP...
Saturday, March 18
First Round
7:17 p.m. (CST) - Baylor (24-6) vs. Northern Arizona (22-10)
9:30 p.m. - Florida (21-8) vs. New Mexico (21-9)
Monday, March 20
Second Round
8:30 p.m. (CST) - Baylor/NAU winner vs. Florida/New Mexico winner
All games will be shown on ESPN2
BAYLOR VS. NORTHERN ARIZONA...
The reigning NCAA champion Baylor Lady Bears, currently ranked No. 10 in both the AP listing and the coaches poll, enter the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 24-6 overall record and winners of 59 of their last 69 games. The Lady Bears will be playing in their third straight NCAA Tournament and fifth in the past six seasons. All NCAA appearances have come since head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson assumed the program's helm.
The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (NAU) earned their first NCAA Tournament berth by winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament with a 74-59 victory over Weber State in the championship game. NAU enters the NCAA playoffs with a 22-10 overall record and finished Big Sky regular season play with a 9-5 mark.
Baylor's Sophia Young, national player of the year candidate and Big 12 Player of the Year, leads Baylor in both scoring and rebounding at 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds a game. The Kodak All-American is No. 1 in the Big 12 in scoring and No. 3 in rebounding. Sophomore point guard Angela Tisdale ranks second on the squad in scoring at 12.2 an outing. Senior guard Chameka Scott ranks third on the team in scoring (8.8) and No. 2 in rebounding at 6.4 a game while Abiola Wabara, a junior post, manages 8.6 points and 5.8 boards.
Northern Arizona is led by 6-2 junior post and Big Sky Tournament MVP Alyssa Wahl's 14.5 points and 6.6 rebounds a game. Three other Lumberjacks average in double figures as well. Megan Porter, a 6-1 junior forward, checks in at 11.2 ppg, 5-9 senior guard Nicky Eason manages 10.3 a game and ranks second on the squad in rebounding at 5.8. Sandra Viksryte, a 6-1 senior forward who transferred from Oklahoma State, comes off the bench to average 10.1 points and 5.5 boards an outing.
BAYLOR IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT...
Baylor is competing in its third straight and fifth all-time NCAA Tournament, as all five appearances have come since head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson assumed the program's helm. BU is 9-3 in NCAA Tournament games including 3-1 in first round games, 2-1 in second round games, 1-1 in the Sweet 16, 1-0 in the Elite Eight, 1-0 in the semifinals and 1-0 in championship games.
2001- No. 8 seed - West Region - Durham, N.C. (Duke host)
First round - lost to No. 9 seed Arkansas (68-59)
2002- No. 2 seed - East Region - Waco, Texas (Baylor host)
First round - defeated No. 15 seed Bucknell (80-56)
Second round - lost to No. 7 seed Drake (76-72)
2004- No. 4 seed - Midwest Region - Albuquerque (University of New Mexico host)
First round - defeated No. 13 seed Loyola Marymount (71-60)
Second round - defeated No. 5 seed Florida (91-76)
Sweet 16 - lost to No. 1 Tennessee (71-69) (Oklahoma host)
2005 - No. 2 seed - Tempe Regional - Seattle (University of Washington host)
First round - defeated No. 15 seed Illinois State (91-70)
Second round - defeated No. 10 seed Oregon (69-46)
Sweet 16 - defeated No. 3 seed Minnesota (64-57) (Tempe - Arizona State host)
Elite Eight - defeated No. 1 seed North Carolina (72-63)
Semifinal - defeated No. 1 seed LSU (68-57) (Indianapolis)
Championship - defeated No. 1 seed Michigan State (84-62)
2006 - No. 3 seed - Albuquerque Regional - Tucson (University of Arizona host)
First round - vs. No. 14 seed Northern Arizona (21-10)
MULKEY-ROBERTSON COACHING IN 200TH GAME...
Baylor's first round NCAA Tournament game marks head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson's 200th game along the Lady Bear sidelines. She has posted an impressive 155 wins against just 44 losses in her six seasons at BU, good for a .779 winning percentage, the best mark in the Big 12 since her arrival.
BAYLOR VERSUS POSTSEASON TEAMS...
Baylor went 14-5 versus teams participating in the 2006 postseason including an 8-5 mark against this year's NCAA field and 6-0 when matched up against 2006 WNIT entrants.
- Five of Baylor's six losses this season were to teams that earned NCAA invitations (Oklahoma three times, LSU and Missouri).
- BU versus the NCAA field ... 3-0 vs. Texas A&M, 1-0 vs. UCLA, 1-0 vs. Army, 1-0 vs. Cal, 1-0 vs. Georgia, 1-0 vs. Washington; 0-1 vs. LSU; 0-1 vs. Missouri, 0-3 vs. Oklahoma.
-BU against WNIT field ... 2-0 vs. Kansas State, 1-0 vs. Nebraska, 1-0 vs. Kansas, 1-0 vs. Iowa State and 1-0 vs. Indiana.
Sophia Young CLAIMS BIG 12 CAREER MARKS...
Sophia Young needed just two rebounds to claim the Big 12's all-time rebounding record and she got them against Colorado to pass former Texas standout Stacy Stephens for the top spot, Young now has 1,286 career boards. Young became the Big 12's all-time scoring leader against quarterfinal opponent Kansas State, passing Kansas State's Kendra Wecker's (2002-05) all-time total of 2,333, Young now sits at 2,410 points. She recently broke the league's career double-double mark of 54 and now sits atop the chart with 60. In addition, Young ranks No. 2 in games played (136), No. 4 all-time in steals (311) and tied for No. 9 in blocked shots (129).
Sophia Young CLOSE TO JOINING ELITE GROUP...
Sophia Young needs just three assists to join an elite group, which currently consists of three players, who have tallied 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 300 steals and 300 assists in their NCAA Division I careers. The elite group includes Cheryl Miller (USC), Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamicha Catchings (Tennessee). Young currently has 2,410 points, 1,286 rebounds, 311 steals and 297 assists.
Sophia Young MISCELLANEOUS...
Double figure scoring - 127 of 136 games and 76 consecutive. The 76-game streak began on Feb. 21, 2004 versus Oklahoma.
20 or more point scoring efforts - 47 including 14 in 2004-05, 18 in 2005-06.
30 or more point scoring efforts - 6 (1 as a sophomore, 5 in 2005-06)
Double-figure rebounding games - 61
Double-Doubles - 60
CHALKED UP ANOTHER 20-WIN SEASON...
After posting 20-win seasons in each of her first five seasons, Kim Mulkey-Robertson and the Lady Bears made it six straight as they pushed their season record to 20-5 with an 86-40 triumph over Colorado. Prior to Mulkey-Robertson's arrival, the program had posted six 20-plus win seasons in 26 years and five of those were during pre-NCAA competition when there were no game limits. Since the NCAA began sponsoring women's basketball in the 1981-82 season Baylor had posted only one 20-win season (1997-98, 20-11) prior to Mulkey-Robertson assuming the reins of the Lady Bear program. At 24-6, Baylor enjoys its third-best record after 30 games in Mulkey-Robertson's tenure behind a 27-3 mark a year ago and a 26-4 record in 2001-02.
THE COACHES...
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is in her sixth season and owns a 155-44 head coaching record which equates to a .779 winning percentage. She has produced 20-win seasons in each of her six years as a head coach and has taken the Lady Bears to postseason competition every year, five times to the NCAA Tournament and to the 2003 WNIT finals. In 2005, the Lady Bears claimed Baylor's and the Big 12's first NCAA basketball championship.
Mulkey-Robertson is 9-3 in NCAA Tournament games, 3-1 in first round games, 2-1 in second round games, 1-1 in the Sweet 16, 1-0 in the Elite Eight, 1-0 in the semifinals and 1-0 in championship games.
Baylor year-by-year under Mulkey-Robertson:
2000-01 - 21-9 - NCAA, lost in first round (Arkansas)
2001-02 - 27-6 - NCAA, lost in second round (Drake)
2002-03 - 24-11 - WNIT, lost in finals (Auburn)
2003-04 - 26-9 - NCAA, lost in Sweet 16 (Tennessee)
2004-05 - 33-3 - NCAA Champions
2005-06 - 24-6 (Sixth straight 20-win season, third consecutive NCAA trip)
Mulkey-Robertson is the second winningest coach in school history and needs 14 victories to surpass No. 1 Pam Bowers, who achieved that record in 15 years (1980-1994).
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. She was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame in June of 2003.
Northern Arizona head coach Laura Kelly is in her third season as the Lumberjacks' head coach. She has posted a 53-27 record while on the NAU campus. Kelly came to NAU following five successful years as head coach at Binghamton University in Vestal, N.Y. She owns an eight-year career record of 157-75.
THE SERIES...
Baylor and Northern Arizona will meet for the second time when the two teams square off on Saturday evening. Baylor leads the series 1-0 after posting a 64-61 victory over the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff on Dec. 11, 1993.
Baylor will be playing in Tucson for the first time in program history. However, it marks the Lady Bears' third trip to the Grand Canyon state. In addition to playing in Flagstaff in 1993, BU has been to Tempe twice (1983 and 2005). Baylor sports a 4-1 record in games played in Arizona.
1983 - lost to Oregon State, 76-75; defeated New Mexico State, 67-48 (Tempe, ASU Activity Center) 1993 - defeated Northern Arizona (64-61) (Flagstaff) 2005 - defeated Minnesota,64-57 and defeated North Carolina, 72-63 (Tempe, Wells Fargo Arena)
COMMON OPPONENTS...
Baylor and Northern Arizona have played three common opponents (Colorado, Nebraska, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) this season. Baylor is 3-0 against the teams while Northern Arizona is 2-1.
Colorado (BU, 86-40; NAU won 84-83 in overtime)
Nebraska (BU, 91-69; NAU lost 70-56)
TAMU-CC (BU, 92-64; NAU won 72-47)
BAYLOR, YOUNG, TISDALE AMONG NCAA LEADERS...
According to the most recent NCAA statistics (through games of March 12) Baylor ranks among the nation's top 30 teams in seven areas including scoring margin (No. 11), scoring offense (No. 15), steals (No. 17), blocks (No. 19), won-lost pct. (No. 20), assists (No. 23) and turnovers.
Sophia Young ranks No. 2 in scoring, No. 23 in field goal percentage and No. 26 in rebounding while Angela Tisdale is No. 14 in assists.
