Dec. 2, 1999
GAME #5
Centenary Ladies (0-5) -vs.- Missouri Tigers (3-1)
TIP-OFF: 8:00 p.m. CST.
RADIO/TV: KFRU 1400 AM (David Lile, Gary Link)
INTERNET: www.mutigers.com (LIVE)
ARENA: Hearnes Center (13,300)
SERIES: First meeting
COACHES: Missouri - Cindy Stein (81-40, 16-15 at MU),
Centenary -
John Raff (0-5, at Centenary)
Missouri Looks to Take Home Third Straight Unilever Title
The Missouri Tigers (3-1) will host the 22nd Annual Unilever Missouri Lady Tiger Classic this weekend at the Hearnes Center in Columbia. It will be the second tournament in a row for Mizzou after winning the Pacific Bell Classic title in San Diego, Calif. last weekend. Missouri has won the Unilever Missouri Lady Tiger Classic the last two years.
Two schools that played in the 1999 NCAA Tournament will open the tournament on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. as the Evansville Lady Aces (2-0) take on the Lady Toppers of Western Kentucky (2-2). At 8:00 p.m., the Missouri Tigers take the court as they will face the Ladies of Centenary (0-5).
Not only have the Tigers won the last two Unilever Classics, MU has one six of the last seven tournaments. Missouri has won the event 14 times in all. Last year, the Tigers upset Louisville for the title by a score of 87-76 in an overtime thriller.
Scouting Centenary
The Centenary Ladies enter the Unilever Missouri Lady Tiger Classic with an 0-5 record. Centenary, out of Shreveport, La., reintroduced women's basketball to it's athletics program this season. It is the first year for women's basketball at Centenary since 1984. Centenary has yet to play a home game. The Ladies dropped two games at the Southwest Texas Tournament to open the season and have dropped road games to Arkansas-Little Rock, Texas-Arlington and Stephen F. Austin.
Centenary is led by 6-4 junior Prudence Garrison, averaging 12.8 ppg. and 5.8 rpg. Garrison has also blocked 13 shots.
Centenary is coached by John Raff, who is in his first season at the Division I level. Raff was an assistant coach at Sam Houston State the last two seasons and served as an assistant at Austin Peay and Garden City Community College.
PROBABLE MISSOURI STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG. RPG. OTHER 24 Amanda Lassiter F 6'1 Jr. 10.8 3.8 4.7 spg. 5 Amy Monsees F 6'0 Sr. 12.3 3.3 .621% FG 55 Marlena Williams C 6'0 Jr. 13.8 4.3 .537% FG 32 Natalie Bright G 5'8 So. 7.5 4.0 1.0 TO/gm. 44 Julie Helm G 5'11 Sr. 10.5 4.3 7 steals
OFF THE BENCH
No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG. RPG. OTHER 22 Tracy Franklin G/F 5'10 Jr. 5.0 2.5 2.0 apg. 45 Ekpe Akpaffiong F/C 6'0 Sr. 8.8 4.5 .875% FT 15 Kerensa Barr G 5'10 Fr. 2.5 2.8 2.5 spg. 52 Melissa Statham C 6'2 Fr. 0.5 1.8 0.5 apg. 25 Ali Johnston G 5'7 So. 2.3 1.0 0.8 apg.
The Last Time Out for Missouri
The Missouri Tigers spent their Thanksgiving weekend in beautiful San Diego, Calif. at the Pacific Bell Classic at San Diego State University. The Tigers came away with the tournament title by defeating Portland State, 67-48 and San Diego State, 85-61.
Junior Amanda Lassiter was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by senior forward Amy Monsees.
Lassiter "Steals" the Show in San Diego
Amanda Lassiter literally "stole" the show at the Pacific Bell Classic last weekend in San Diego. Normally, the Most Valuable Player of a tournament is chosen for their offensive performance. That was not the case for Lassiter.
Lassiter scored just five points in the tournment opener against Portland State and added 17 against San Diego State in the title game. It was her defense, especially her presence at the top of Missouri's devastating full court press that won Lassiter the award. The 6-1 junior was "Scottie Pippen-like" recording six steals in the first game against Portland State and a Big 12 and Missouri single-game record 11 against San Diego State. By the way, to go along with her 17 points and 11 steals against the Aztecs, Lassiter recorded 8 assists as well, putting her two assists away from a triple-double.
Before the tournament, the buzz around Lassiter was about her shot-blocking ability. The junior college Kodak All-American entered the tournament with 10 blocks in the first two games. Lassiter swatted four more shots of Portland State on Friday night. She did not block any shots on Saturday, and then again, San Diego State only got 47 shots up for the game.
Tigers Turn the Tables in the Turnover Department
She calls it "Organized Chaos." Cindy Stein's style of basketball is in full effect in 1999-00. Many basketball followers might compare it to the Arkansas men's "40 Minutes of Hell." In four games, Missouri has forced an average of 30.25 turnovers per game. The Tigers have 71 steals as a team so far, an average of 17.7 per game. Missouri averaged just over 8 steals per contest last year.
Just ask the San Diego State Aztecs as to how devastating Mizzou's full court press can be. The Tigers took a 2- 1 lead just 47 seconds into the game last Saturday. Just five minutes, 11 seconds and 10 turnovers later, Missouri's lead was 25-1. The Aztecs were forced to call three of their five timeouts during that span.
Offensively, the Tigers are scoring at a much higher rate than last year, something Coach Stein loves to see. Missouri averaged 66.4 points a game last season. In four games, the Tigers are averaging 80 points per contest and scored over 90 points in both of their
PRONUNCIATIONS
Monsees = MON-seas
Millham = MILL-um
Kerensa = ker-EN-za
Cardenas = car-DANE-us
Wannette = wa-NET
Akpaffiong = ak-PAF-fee-awng
Statham = STAY-tum
Marlena = mar LEEN-uh
Tracking Julie Helm
Senior Julie Helm is already one of the most accomplished women's basketball players in Missouri school history. With every game she plays during her senior campaign, the Tiger record book will keep on changing. Helm is currently in sixth place on Missouri's all-time scoring list with 1,605 points. She is currently the career leader in free throw percentage at 80.5 percent. She on her way to becoming the career leader in three-point field goals.
Helm is averaging 17.0 ppg. for her career. She just passed the 400 rebound mark and is seven three-point field goals shy of 100. Helm is 16 free throws away from 400 and just passed the 100 steals mark. She also needs to play just 36 minutes to eclipse the 3,000 minutes played mark.
*FOR MORE ON JULIE HELM, PLEASE SEE HER PAGE LATER ON IN THIS PACKET.
The Future at Point Guard is Bright
Sophomore point guard Natalie Bright has been one of the biggest factors in the vast improvement of the Missouri Tigers women's basketball team. Bright played in every game as a freshman last year and gained valuable experience, although struggling at times with turnovers.
Things have changed so far this season as Bright is playing with much more confidence and a better feel for the game. In four games, Bright has turned the ball over just five times in 24.3 minutes per game. She has 11 assists and is averaging 4.5 rebounds per contest. Bright is also scoring 7.5 points per game.
Freshman Kerensa Barr, the Missouri state High School Player-of-the-year, has helped the point guard spot as well, especially at the defensive end. Barr is second on the team in steals behind Amanda Lassiter with 10 and is averaging 2.8 rebounds from the point guard spot.
Offensively, Barr will get better as the year goes on. She went the first two exhibition games and the first regular season game against Bradley without a turnover. Since, she has turned it over eight times, but she does have seven assists. Barr is averaging 2.8 ppg. and has connected on two three-point field goals.
Last year, Missouri's point guards turned the ball over 122 times and recorded just 97 assists. Look for the those numbers to change for the better in 2000. Bright and Barr have a combined 18 assists to 13 turnovers thus far.
Just Call Her "Pep" and Enjoy
If you love basketball, you love to watch Marlena "Pep" Williams play. The 6-0 junior college Kodak All-American plays hard and wants to win worse than the average player. She is what Cindy Stein calls a perfectionist, and anything less than perfection irritates "Pep."
Williams played her first career game for the Tigers in her own back-yard in Peoria, Ill. at Bradley. Williams scored 13 points in 18 minutes and had tears in her eyes as she left the floor after fouling out.
In her Hearnes Center debut against Arkansas, some 1,300 Missouri fans got to see what "Pep" is all about. Williams picked up her second foul less than four minutes into the game and sat out the rest of the half with 0 points and 1 rebound. Those who know "Pep" knew what to expect in the second half. Williams scored 21 points in the second period, 7 of them in the first 4:14 of the half. She staggered Arkansas with points in the post as well as several one-on- one moves from the top of the key. Despite playing in pain on Saturday with shin splints, Williams put her well-rounded game on display again against San Diego State with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Williams enters this weekend's Unilever Missouri Lady Tiger Classic as the Tigers' leading scorer with 13.8 ppg. What is eye-popping about that figure is that she is only playing 20.5 minutes per game, mainly due to foul difficulties. If "Pep" can stay out of foul trouble, look out.
MISSOURI'S RECORD ...
| Ahead at halftime | 3-0 |
| Behind at halftime | 0-1 |
| FG% of .450 + | 2-0 |
| FG% less than .450 | 1-1 |
| Better FG% than opponent | 3-0 |
| Worse FG% than opponent | 0-1 |
| Opponent shoots less than .450 | 3-0 |
| More 3FG made than opponent | 3-0 |
| Fewer 3FG made than opponent | 0-1 |
| Try more FTs than opponent | 2-0 |
| Try less FTs than opponent | 1-1 |
| Outrebound opponent | 1-1 |
| Tied or outrebounded | 2-0 |
| More TO's than opponent | 0-1 |
| Same or fewer turnovers | 3-0 |
| Make 15 or more TO's | 3-1 |
| Make less than 15 TO's | 0-0 |
| Score 50-59 pts | 0-0 |
| Score 60-69 pts | 1-0 |
| Score 70-79 pts | 0-1 |
| Score 80-89 pts | 1-0 |
| Score 90 + pts | 1-0 |
| Allow less than 50 pts | 2-0 |
| Allow 50-59 pts | 0-0 |
| Allow 60-69 pts | 1-0 |
| Allow 70-79 pts | 0-0 |
| Allow 80-89 pts | 0-1 |
| Allow 90 + pts | 0-0 |
| Bench outscores opponent bench | 2-0 |
| Opp bench outscores MU bench | 1-1 |
| Overtime | 0-0 |
| vs Top 25 teams | 0-0 |
| Home Games | 0-1 |
| Road Games | 2-0 |
| Neutral Site Games | 1-0 |
| Day Games | 2-0 |
| Night Games | 1-1 |
| Weekday Games | 1-1 |
| Weekend Games | 2-0 |
| Television Games | 1-0 |
| White Uniforms | 0-1 |
| Black Uniforms | 3-0 |
| Gold Uniforms | 0-0 |
| GAMES DECIDED BY: | |
| 5 pts or less | 0-0 |
| 6-10 pts | 0-1 |
| 11-19 pts | 0-0 |
| 20 or more pts | 3-0 |
Monsees a Consistant Threat for Tigers
Senior forward Amy Monsees had a breakthrough season as a junior. Now a senior tri-captain, Monsees continues to quietly go about her business. Monsees is second on the club in scoring at 12.3 ppg. and is tied for second on the team with 11assists. She has 8 steals defensively and has turned the ball over just six times. The 6-0 Kansas City native has been money in the bank when she has received a chance to score. Monsees is 18-of-29 from the floor, good for a team-best 62 percent, and has hit 2-of-3 three-point tries, making her 16-for-37 for her career. She is also 11-for-13 for the season from the foul line. Monsees led the Tigers with 17 points on Friday night against Portland State and added nine more against San Diego State and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
New Roles for Tiger Vets Ekpe and Franklin
Senior Ekpe Akpaffiong and junior Tracy Franklin started a combined 38 games last year for the Tigers. In Akpaffiong's case, she has started 59 games in the last three seasons. Akpaffiong and Franklin are now coming off the bench for the Tigers with the additions of Amanda Lassiter and Marlena Williams. The outcome of the moves? So far, so good. Akpaffiong's reaction was a 13 point, 5 rebound performance in 14 minutes of action in Missouri's 92-49 win over Bradley in the season opener. Akpaffiong has been huge off the bench for the Tigers thus far. She is Missouri's leading rebounder at 4.5 per game and is averaging 8.8 points per game in 18.3 minutes per contest. Franklin has shown a new aggressive side to her game that has not been there the last two years. The Mexico, Mo. native is averaging 5.0 ppg. and has come up with several key rebounds and steals for the Tigers. In 17 minutes per game, Franklin has collected 8 assists, 4 steals and has blocked three shots. She is also pulling down 2.5 rebounds per contest.
Tigers Ink Three in Early Signing Period
Missouri has already signed three blue-chip recruits in the early signing period. The Tigers inked Missouri high school standout Terianne Wolford of Nixa, Mo., Evan Unrau of Ft. Collins, Colo., and Tracy Lozier of Blue Val-ley North High School in Overland Park, Kan.
Wolford, a 6-0 forward, enters her senior season at Nixa High as a three-year starter. A second team All-State selection last season, Wolford is averaging 18 points per game and is shooting over 59 percent for her career. She is also averaging over seven rebounds for her career. Wolford is a three-time, first team All-Conference pick and was named the AAU Missouri Player-of-the-Year as a sophomore. She has also been selected as an honorable mention AAU All-American.
Unrau will enter Missouri as one of the top high school players out of the state of Colorado. The 6-1 post player is a three-year starter for Rocky Mountain High School and is a two-time All-Conference performer. Unrau averaged 16.2 ppg. last year to along with 9 rebounds per contest. Not only is Unrau a great basketball player, she is an All-State soccer goalie as well as a finalist for the state volleyball Player-of-the-Year. Rocky Mountain High won the Colorado state title.
Lozier is a 5-10 guard that can play both the point and shooting guard positions. One of the most heralded players coming out of the state of Kansas, Lozier has helped lead her team, Blue Valley North High, to two straight Class 6A state titles. She averaged 15 points, 8 assists and 7 steals last season and is a two-time Kansas City All-Metro selection. Lozier won the DiRenna Award this past season recognizing her as the top player in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
THIS WEEK IN THE BIG 12
Standings W L Texas Tech 4 0 Kansas 3 0 Texas A&M 3 0 Missouri 3 1 Iowa State 3 1 Nebraska 2 1 Texas 3 2 Oklahoma 3 2 Oklahoma State 3 2 Colorado 2 2 Kansas State 2 2 Baylor 1 2
THIS WEEKEND IN THE BIG 12
Friday, Dec. 3
Arkansas at Baylor
Loyola Marymount at Kansas
TBA at Kansas State
Centenary at Missouri
San Antonio at Texas A&M
Saturday, Dec. 4
Colorado at Oregon
Western Illinois at Iowa State
UCSB/BYU at Kansas
TBA at Kansas State
W. Kentucky/Evansville at Missouri
Illinois at Texas
SMU at Texas Tech
Sunday, Dec. 5
Oklahoma at Stephen F. Austin
Oklahoma State at Wichita State
USA National Team at Texas Tech (exh.)
THE CINDY STEIN SHOW LIVE !
Every Thursday Night from JOHNNY's BEANERY on NEWS TALK 1400 KFRU
Head Coach Cindy Stein
Missouri coach Cindy Stein enters her second season as head coach of the Missouri Tigers. Stein led her Tigers to a 13-15 record in her first season at MU and a first round Big 12 Tournament victory over seventh seeded Baylor. Missouri also knocked off the likes of Nebraska in Columbia and Oklahoma in Norman. The Tigers also came close to knocking off Big 12 Champion Texas Tech in Lubbock. Stein's career coaching record is 81-41. She spent three seasons at Emporia State University as she led her club to a 65- 25 record and a trip to the NCAA Division II national championship game in 1998. Her 1997-98 team finished 33-1as Stein was selected the MIAA Coach-of-the-Year. She was tabbed National Coach-of-the-Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.