WBB, OU Square Off in Quarterfinals
3/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
 vs.  |
| #16/18 Baylor (23-8) vs. Oklahoma (21-9) Friday, March 12, 2010 | 7:35 p.m. CST Kansas City, Mo.| Municipal Auditorium (9,308) TV: FOX Sports Net |
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GAME CENTER: GAME 31
MEDIA INFORMATION
Date: Thurs., March 12, 2010
Tip-Off: 7:35 p.m. CST
Location: Kansas City, Mo.
Arena: Municipal Auditorium (9,308)
Television: FOX Sports Net
Talent: Brent Stover (pxp), Brenda VanLengen (color)
Radio: Baylor ISP Sports Network; KLRK 92.9 FM €ˆ(Waco)
Talent: Rick May (pxp), Lori Fogleman (color)
Video Web Stream: None
Audio Web Stream:
Live Stats: www.Big12Sports.com
BAYLOR LADY BEARS
2009-10 Record: 23-8, 9-7
Ranking (AP/ESPN): 16/18
Last Game: W, 72-65, Colorado
Head Coach: Kim Mulkey
Career Record: 260-74 (10th season)
Record at Baylor: same
Mulkey vs. Oklahoma: 7-16
OKLAHOMA SOONERS
2009-10 Record: 21-9, 11-5
Ranking (AP/ESPN): 12/12
Last Game: W, 95-62, at Oklahoma State
Head Coach: Kathy McConnell-Miller
Career Record: 307-141 (11th season)
Record at Oklahoma: same
Oklahoma vs. Baylor: OU leads 22-11
STORY LINES
• No. 16 Baylor, 23-8 on the season and finishing league play at 9-7, advanced to the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals after downing 11th-seeded Colorado, 72-65, on Thursday. It marks the 10th straight season and 12th overall quarterfinal appearance for the Lady Bears.
• Oklahoma, the Big 12 Championship's No. 3 seed, is 21-9 overall and posted an 11-5 league mark.
• Brittney Griner served her two-game suspension following her ejection from the Lady Bears' 69-60 victory at Texas Tech, March 3. Griner sat out against No. 18 Texas and the Lady Bears' Big 12 Championship opener against Colorado.
• Griner received five Big 12 Conference honors on Monday. She was named the league's Freshman of the Year, Co-Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-Big 12 first team, All-Defensive team and All-Freshman team.
• As a team, Baylor ranks No. 1 nationally in blocks per game (7.3); No. 2 in field goal percentage defense (33.42); No. 6 in rebound margin (9.3); No. 8 in field goal percentage (.466); No. 12 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (27.5); No. 13 in scoring margin (16.2); No. 28 in scoring defense (56.5) and No. 29 in scoring offense (72.7).
• In 10 seasons under head coach Kim Mulkey, Baylor is 260-74 (.778), which ranks her No. 4 nationally in winning percentage. In addition, the Lady Bear program ranks No. 6 among the NCAA Division I's winningest teams over that span.
• Only two Baylor players, juniors Melissa Jones and Kelli Griffin, have two or more years in the Lady Bear system. Morghan Medlock, a senior, transferred last season from Southern California and junior Whitney Zachariason has just over a year in the program after transferring from Arkansas. All the rest of the squad are freshmen and sophomores.
• Baylor returned one starter (Kelli Griffin) and eight letterwinners from its 2009 NCAA Sweet 16 team which finished the season 29-6.
• The Lady Bears remain the Big 12 leader in field goal percentage (.467), field goal percentage defense (.336), rebounding offense (43.7) and blocked shots (7.2) and are No. 2 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.279), scoring defense (56.8), scoring margin (15.9) and assists (14.7).
• Junior point guard Kelli Griffin ranks No. 3 in the Big 12 Conference in assist/turnover ratio at 2.0 and No. 4 in assists (5.0). She has doled out 155 assists and turned the ball over only 76 times this season. Over the past eight games, Griffin has dished out 61 assists while committing only 24 turnovers for a 2.54 ratio.
• Griffin now ranks No. 9 on Baylor's career assist chart with 330 and is also No. 8 on BU's single-season assist list with 155.
• Griner became just the seventh female to dunk in a regular-season NCAA contest when she threw one down against Jacksonville State, Nov. 24. Griner added two more dunks to her total against Texas State (Jan. 2) and registered another at Kansas State (Feb. 3). She is also a defensive threat as a shot blocker and alterer with her 88" wing span. She has blocked a school and Big 12 record 173 shots and altered 76 more.
• Baylor averages 78.1 points and allows 52.7 in its 23 wins on the year, but in its eight losses is scoring just 57.1 ppg and yielding 68.6 ppg. In its losses, BU is 18-of-98 (.184) from 3-point range, compared to 60-of-172 (.349) in its wins.
• Griner recorded the program's first-ever triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 11 blocked shots against Oral Roberts, she added her second and third of the season against Colorado (26 pts., 11 blocks, 10 reb.) and Oklahoma (17 pts., 11 blocks, 10 reb.). Her three triple-doubles tie the Big 12 single-season record.
• For the fifth straight season, Baylor surpassed the 100,000 fan mark in home attendance. Baylor drew 9,758 fans against Texas, its ninth-largest crowd, setting an all-time single-season attendance record with 122,550 fans attending 16 home games this season. The previous record was 119,603 set over 19 home games in 2006-07. BU currently ranks No. 9 in NCAA Division I attendance.
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SEED
This season marks the first time since 2004 that Baylor has not earned a top four seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. This year's No. 6 seed is the team's lowest seed since it was the tournament's No. 7 seed in 2003.
LADY BEARS & BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
1997 (1-1) - No. 9 seed
First round - defeated Oklahoma State, 68-62
Quarterfinals - lost to Kansas, 66-54
1998 (0-1) - No. 6 seed
First round - lost to Kansas State, 71-66 OT
1999 (0-1) - No. 7 seed
First round - lost to Missouri, 60-55
2000 (0-1) - No. 12 seed
First round - lost to Nebraska, 82-61
2001 (1-1) - No. 6 seed
First round - defeated Kansas State, 60-44
Quarterfinals - lost to Iowa State, 73-48
2002 (2-1) - No. 2 seed
Quarterfinals - defeated Texas Tech, 75-60
Semifinals - defeated Iowa State, 91-83
Finals - lost to Oklahoma, 84-69
2003 (1-1) - No. 7 seed
First round - defeated Texas A&M, 80-61
Quarterfinals - lost to Kansas State, 77-60
2004 (2-1) - No. 5 seed
First round - defeated Kansas, 86-71
Quarterfinals - defeated Texas Tech, 80-72
Semifinals - lost to Texas, 63-59
2005 (3-0) - No. 1 seed
Quarterfinals - defeated Missouri, 70-52
Semifinals - defeated Texas Tech, 58-57
Finals - defeated Kansas State, 68-55
2006 (2-1) - No. 2 seed
Quarterfinals - defeated Kansas State, 79-74 OT
Semifinals - defeated Texas A&M, 53-52
Finals - lost to Oklahoma, 72-61
2007 (1-1) - No. 3 seed
Quarterfinals - defeated Kansas, 71-54
Semifinals - lost to Oklahoma, 78-64
2008 (0-1) - No. 2 seed
Quarterfinals - lost to Texas, 76-61
2010 (1-0) - No. 6 seed
First round - defeated Colorado, 72-65
Quarterfinals - vs. Oklahoma, TBD
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The 12th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners enter the contest with a 21-9 mark and finished 11-5 in Big 12 action. The Sooners are coming off a 95-62 win at 20th-ranked Oklahoma State.
Head coach Sherri Coale is in her 14th season along the Oklahoma sideline and owns a 307-141 mark.
The Sooners have four active players scoring in double digits. Junior point guard Danielle Robinson leads the way with 16.5 a contest and leads the team in assists with 158. She is followed by senior forward/guard Nyeshia Stevenson's 14.1 an outing. Amanda Thompson, a senior forward, scores 12.8 a game and is the squad's top rebounder at 10.1 a contest and junior post Abi Olajuwon manages 10.6 a contest.
SERIES RECORD
Oklahoma leads the series 23-11 while BU head coach Kim Mulkey is 7-16 versus the Sooners, 0-3 on a neutral court.
This season marks the first where the two teams split the regular-season series in the Big 12 era; previously, the series has ended in a sweep every year.
