March 14, 2009
#7/7 Baylor (25-5, 12-4) vs. #18/19 Iowa State (24-7, 11-5)
Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Championship Semifinals
Saturday, March 14 - 2:30 p.m. (CT)
Cox Convention Center
Oklahoma City, Okla.
OVER THE AIRWAVES
TV: FSN
Kevin Eschenfelder, play-by-play
Debbie Antonelli, color analyst
Internet Feeds
Webcast: BaylorBears.com
Live audio (free)
Radio: KLRK - 92.9 FM - Waco
Radio Talent:
Rick May, play-by-play
Lori Fogleman, color analyst
BAYLOR IN THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Baylor is 4-3 in first round games, 6-4 in second round games, 3-2 in semifinal games and 1-2 in the finals.
The Lady Bears are 14-11 all-told in Big 12 Championship games, including 13-7 under head coach Kim Mulkey. BU has won its first Big 12 Championship game in eight of Mulkey's nine seasons and has played in two of the last four title games.
Baylor advanced to the tournament semifinals for the sixth time in program history and the fifth time in the past six years.
Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Championship
First Round - March 12 (Thursday)
Game 1: No. 5 Kansas State def. No. 12 Colorado
Game 2: No. 8 Kansas def. No. 9 Nebraska
Game 3: No. 6 Texas def. No. 11 Missouri
Game 4: No. 10 Oklahoma State def. No. 7 Texas Tech
Quarterfinals - March 13 (Friday)
Game 5: No. 1 Oklahoma def. No. 8 Kansas - 61-56
Game 6: No. 4 Texas A&M def. No. 5 Kansas State - 68-51
Game 7: No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 10 Oklahoma State - 67-62
Game 8: No. 3 Iowa State def. No. 6 Texas - 59-55
Semifinals - March 14 (Saturday)
Game 9: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Texas A&M, 12:00 p.m. • FSN
Game 10: No. 2 Baylor vs. No. 3 Iowa State, 2:30 p.m. • FSN
Championship - March 15 (Sunday)
Game 11: Winner G9 vs. Winner G10, 12:30 p.m. • FSN
PROBABLE STARTERS
BAYLOR Lady Bears
IN THE POLLS
7 - Associated Press
7 - USA Today/ESPN Coaches
PROBABLE STARTERS
21 Kelli Griffin - So., 5-8 - 6.6 ppg, 3.6 apg
15 Jhasmin Player - Sr., 5-10 - 10.4 ppg, 5.6 apg
3 Jessica Morrow - Sr., 6-0 - 11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg
14 Rachel Allison - Sr., 6-1-8.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg
24 Ashley Field - Fr., 6-2 - 3.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg
IOWA STATE Cyclones
IN THE POLLS
18 - Associated Press
19 - USA Today/ESPN Coaches
PROBABLE STARTERS
15 Heather Ezell - Sr., G, 5-9 - 12.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg
4 Alison Lacey - Jr., G, 6-0 - 10.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg
11 Kelsey Bolte - So., G, 6-1 - 9.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg
32 Amanda Nisleit - Sr., F, 6-0 - 7.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg
5 Nicki Wieben - Sr., C, 6-4 - 10.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg
LADY BEAR LEADERS
With 30 games under its belt, Baylor continues to rank among the Big 12 Conference leaders in rebounding and is No. 6 nationally in rebounding margin (+9.6). Four players haul down 5.6 or more rebounds a contest, junior post Danielle Wilson leads the way with 9.6, senior post Rachel Allison ranks second on the squad with 6.2 and sophomore guard Melissa Jones hauls in 5.7 while senior guard Jhasmin Player manages 5.6. The Lady Bears average 44.3 rebounds a contest while limiting their opponents to just 35.1.
Wilson leads the team in both scoring and rebounding at 15.1 points and 9.6 boards a game while senior guard Jessica Morrow ranks second on the team in scoring at 11.3 a contest and Player completes Baylor's double-digit scorers at 10.4 a game.
SCOUTING THE CYCLONES
The Iowa State Cyclones, 24-7 on the season and the tournament's No. 3 seed, enter the contest riding a five-game win streak.
Iowa State averages 22 3-point attempts per game and makes 9.1 of those, so the Lady Bears, who rank No. 5 in the league in 3-point percentage defense, will have their hands full defending beyond the arch. Three Iowa State players are averaging double-digit scoring. Heather Ezell, a 5-9 senior guard, leads the squad in scoring with 12.0 points a game. Ezell leads the team in three-point shooting, with 78 makes on the season, which accounts for 32.8 percent of the team's treys. Alison Lacey, a 6-0 junior guard and Nicky Wieben, a 6-4 senior forward, completes the Cyclones' double-digit scoring with 10.6 and 10.3 a game, respectively.
Bill Fennelly is 304-139 in his 14th year as the Iowa State Cyclones' head coach, he possesses a 470-192 record in his 21 seasons as a head coach overall. Coach Fennelly is 5-10 versus Baylor throughout his coaching career at Iowa State.
SERIES RECORDS
Baylor and Iowa State will meet for the 16th time when the two teams square off on Saturday afternoon. Baylor leads the series 10-5 and has won five straight and eight of the last nine. Iowa State's most recent triumph over Baylor came on Feb. 14, 2004, in Ames, 81-72. The series is tied 1-1 on a neutral court.
Head coach Kim Mulkey owns an 9-2 record against Iowa State.
BAYLOR QUICK HITS
• Senior Jhasmin Player needs one more steal to rank No. 10 on BU's all-time steals list, she currently has 187. In addition, she needs 67 points to reach 1,000 for her career.
• With 12 Big 12 wins this season, Kim Mulkey has now registered 10 or more league wins in seven of her nine seasons at Baylor, including six straight campaigns. Next best is Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, who have won 10 or more games four times during the six-year period.
• Baylor has outrebounded its opponent in 25 of 30 games this year. The 2008-09 Lady Bears rank No. 6 nationally in rebound margin.
• BU has won at least 25 games in each of the last eight years, the league's longest active 20-game win streak. The Lady Bears have posted nine consecutive 20-win seasons all told.
• Jessica Morrow became the 25th Lady Bear to score 1,000 career points when she achieved the feat on Dec. 8 versus Lamar. She now has 1,259 career points to rank 18th on Baylor's all-time list.
• Since coming into the league in 2000-01, Kim Mulkey owns the top winning percentage and most victories among Big 12 coaches at 78.2 percent (233-65). Please see chart at the bottom of page two for complete listing.
• BU is 24-0 on the season when scoring 60-plus points, 1-5 when totaling 59 or fewer points. In its five losses this year, BU has averaged 53.45 points per game. In those same five games, the Lady Bears yielded 61.6 points per game.
