Dec. 14, 2007
WACO, Texas - #10/10 Baylor (7-0) vs. #5/4 Stanford (7-1)
Sunday, Dec. 16 - 4 p.m. (CST)
Maples Pavilion (7,223) - Stanford, Calif.
OVER THE AIRWAVES
TV: Fox Sports Network
Ted Robinson (Play-by-play)
Mary Murphy (Color analyst)
Webcast: None
Radio: 1660 AM - KRZI - Waco
Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to tip off.
Radio Talent:
Rick May (Play-by-play)
Lori Fogleman (Color analyst)
BAYLOR AND STANFORD
The Baylor Lady Bears and the Stanford Cardinal matchup features two top-10 teams squaring off in a nationally televised broadcast.
Baylor will be making its first trip to Maples Pavilion and just its second road trip of the season while the Baylor-Stanford contest marks the Cardinal's second of five December home games.
Stanford is Baylor's second ranked foe and third Pac-10 opponent this season. The Lady Bears downed then-11th-ranked California (69-56) and Oregon (80-45), both contests were at Waco.
Fifth-ranked Stanford will be Baylor's highest-ranked regular season opponent since the Lady Bears met No. 4 LSU in Baton Rouge, La., on Jan. 30, 2006.
The contest also features two of the nation's best shot blockers in Baylor's Danielle Wilson (25) and Stanford's Jayne Appel (20).
BAYLOR LADY BEARS
IN THE POLLS
10 - Associated Press
10 - USA Today/ESPN Coaches
PROBABLE STARTERS
20 Angela Tisdale-Sr., G, 5-7 - 15.7 ppg, 3.0 apg
15 Jhasmin Player-Jr., G, 5-10 - 14.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg
3 Jessica Morrow-Jr., G, 6-0 - 10.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg
14 Rachel Allison-Jr., F, 6-0 - 11.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg
11 Danielle Wilson-So., P, 6-3 -13.3 ppg, 8.6 rpg
TOP RESERVES
1 Jessika Bradley-So., F, 6-3 - 7.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg
5 Melissa Jones-Fr., G, 5-10 - 4.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg
21 Kelli Griffin-Fr., G, 5-8, 3.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg
LADY BEAR LEADERS
With seven games under their belt, the Lady Bears boast all five starters averaging double-digit scoring, including three with 13.0 or more a contest. Leading the way is the squad's lone senior, point guard Angela Tisdale, with 15.7 a game. Junior guard Jhasmin Player follows with 14.6 a contest, including a career-high 29 against Saint Mary's. In the same contest, the junior guard tied a school record, hitting 13-of-13 from the free throw line. Danielle Wilson follows with 13.3 a contest and a team-leading 8.6 rebounds an outing. Rachel Allison, a junior forward/post, averages 10.3 points a game and junior guard/forward Jessica Morrow manages 10.3.
In addition to Wilson, four other players haul down 5.4 or more rebounds an outing. Allison ranks behind Wilson in rebounding at 6.4 a game while sophomore post Jessika Bradley manages 5.7, followed by freshman guard Melissa Jones'5.4 and Players' 5.3.
BAYLOR QUICK HITS
- Baylor ranks in the top three in NCAA Division I statistics in seven categories: No. 1 in rebound margin (17.7) and winning percentage (1.000); No. 2 in scoring margin (35.7), field goal percentage (.525) and field goal percentage defense (.310); No. 3 in scoring offense (83.2) and scoring defense (47.5).
- Baylor is the only team in the Big 12 (as of Dec. 13) to have four players ranked among the league's top-30 in scoring average (Tisdale, Player, Wilson, Allison).
- BU is 92-18 (.836) since the start of the 2004-05 season with 15 of the 18 setbacks coming at the hands of nationally ranked opponents. Baylor's last 13 losses have come to ranked opponents.
- Baylor is 149-13 (.920) under Coach Mulkey when scoring 70 or more points, including 92-3 (.968) when putting 80 or more on the scoreboard.
- Bernice Mosby, who left school early in 2007 to play for the WNBA, will receive her Baylor degree on Saturday. BU boasts a 100% graduation rate by Lady Bears who have completed their athletic eligibility at BU since Coach Mulkey's arrival.
- Baylor has scored almost half of its points in the paint this season, 276 out of 579 (.477).
- Danielle Wilson has blocked at least one shot in 38 of 41 career games, including 4 or more 13 times and 3 or more on 17 occasions. Wilson's wing span is 82.25 inches, only 5 inches less than Mamadou Diene, the 7-foot center on the Baylor men's team.
- Wilson narrowly missed a triple-double when Baylor defeated Oregon. She hauled down 10 rebounds, rejected a school-record nine shots and scored nine points.
- Angela Tisdale has been named by the WNBA Player Personnel Department one of the 2008 WNBA Draft's top 20 prospects.
- Tisdale has 407 career assists and needs just 51 to claim the top spot on BU's career chart from Chelsea Whitaker (457, 2002-05).
- Jhasmin Players' 13-of-13 effort from the free throw line against Saint Mary's and Danielle Wilson's nine blocks against Oregon both rank No. 1 in the Big 12.
- Sophomore posts Danielle Wilson (25) and Jessika Bradley (11) have combined for 36 of the team's 49 season blocks.
- On the season, Baylor has outscored its opponents by an average of 35.6 points a game and hauled down 15.4 more rebounds a contest.
- Baylor led NCAA Division I last season in blocks per game with 7.2. So far this season the Lady Bears are averaging 7.0 a contest.
BAYLOR IN THE RANKINGS
After beginning the season ranked No. 15 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Preseason Polls, Baylor is now ranked No. 10 in both polls. This marks Baylor's first top 10 AP ranking since the Jan. 8 poll last season when it was listed at No. 9.
Baylor has been ranked in a school-record 73 straight regular-season AP polls dating back to week nine of the 2003-04 listing when it broke in at No. 24.
THE OPPONENT
STANFORD CARDINAL
The fifth-ranked Stanford Cardinal returns to the court on Sunday after a 14-day break for final exams. The Cardinal boast a 7-1 record, including a 3-0 mark in Maples Pavilion. This season the Cardinal have posted wins over Yale (100-44), then-No. 3 Rutgers (60-58), Utah (81-77 2ot), Old Dominion (69-61), Temple (63-54), San Francisco (96-61) and UC Davis (61-41). Stanford's lone setback of the season came against second-ranked Connecticut (66-54).
Tara VanDerveer is in her 22nd season as Stanford's head coach and owns a 544-134 record there. Her 29-year career head coaching record stands at 696-185.
Since being hit by the injury bug, Stanford's roster of active players numbers 10, the same as the Lady Bears. Since the season began, two players, sophomores Melanie Murphy and Michelle Harrison, have been sidelined for the season and freshman Ashley Cimino has not seen action due to an injury.
Sophomore forward/center Jayne Appel, 6-4, leads a trio of Stanford players in double-digit scoring with 16.6. She is also the squad's top rebounder at 9.1 a contest. Three-time Kodak All-American Candice Wiggins, a 5-11 guard, manages 15.4 points a game while 6-4 freshman forward Kayla Pederson manages 11.9 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.
Appel and Pedersen combine to average 17.7 boards a game which accounts for almost 40 percent of the team's rebounds. Junior forward Jillian Harmon comes off the bench to contribute 6.1 boards and 9.1 points a contest.
STANFORD PROBABLE STARTERS
2 Jayne Appel - So., F/C, 6-4 - 16.6 ppg, 9.1 rpg
11 Candice Wiggins - Sr., G, 5-11 - 15.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg
14 Kayla Pedersen - Fr., F, 6-4 - 11.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg
13 Cissy Pierce - Sr., F, 5-10, 2.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg
21 Rosaly Gold-Onwude - So., G, 5-10 - 6.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg
SERIES RECORD Sunday's contest marks the second meeting and the first in 24 years between Baylor and the Stanford Cardinal. Baylor owns a 1-0 series lead after its 63-59 triumph in Las Vegas on Dec. 2, 1983.
VERSUS THE PACIFIC 10
Head coach Kim Mulkey is 12-0 versus Pacific-10 teams since her arrival at Baylor. Her teams have played six Pac-10 schools prior to today. She is 4-0 against UCLA, 2-0 against Washington, Cal and Oregon and owns single-game victories over Arizona State and Washington State.
The Lady Bear program leads the series with the Pacific-10, 15-8.
BIG 12 CONNECTION
One member of head coach Tara VanDerveer's staff is familiar with the Big 12 Conference and Baylor. Former Missouri standout Evan Unrau (2001-04) is in her first year at Stanford as the program's video coordinator.
