Dec. 16, 1999

Missouri Tigers (7-1)
vs.
Eastern Illinois Panthers (1-5)

TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m. CST.
RADIO/TV: KFRU 1400 AM (David Lile, Sally Albers)
INTERNET: www.mutigers.com (LIVE)
ARENA: Lantz Gym (5,300)
SERIES: Missouri is 3-0 all-time vs. Eastern Illinois
COACHES: Missouri? Cindy Stein (85-41 overall, 20-16 at MU), EIU? Linda Wunder (212-152 overall, 1-5 at EIU)

Fresh off Finals, Tigers to Meet Eastern Illinois
The Missouri Tigers (7-1), fresh off of final exams, take the court for the first time in a week when they meet the Panthers of Eastern Illinois (1-5) this Saturday night in Charleston, Ill. Mizzou is riding a six-game winning streak and has not lost since Nov. 22 against Arkansas. A victory would give the Tigers their longest win-streak, seven, since the 1992-93 campaign. Missouri is coming off of a 78-65 victory at Saint Louis University in a game that renewed an intrastate rivalry.

Scouting Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois has struggled to a 1-5 start so far in the 1999-00 campaign. The Panthers only victory came on Nov. 24 against Chicago State in their lone home game of the season. Eastern Illinois' latest defeat came in overtime at the hands of Tulsa, 71-66.

The Panthers are coached by Linda Wunder, a veteran coach in her first season at EIU. Wunder spent five sea-sons at Fresno State and six seasons before that at Miami, Ohio. EIU is led by senior Leah Aldrich-Franklin, a 6-3 center averaging 12.0 points per contest. Last year's runner-up for Ohio Valley Conference Player-of- the-Year has yet to start a game for the Panthers this season. Senior guard Angie Patzner is av-eraging 9.2 ppg. and leads the club in rebounding (5.0 rpg.) and assists (15).

PROBABLE MISSOURI STARTERS

No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG. RPG. OTHER
24 Amanda Lassiter F 6'1 Jr. 12.8 4.9 28 blocks
 5 Amy Monsees F 6'0 Sr. 11.9 3.9 .893% FT
55 Marlena Williams C 6'0 Jr. 13.9 6.0 .545% FG
32 Natalie Bright G 5'8 So. 7.9 3.8 1.1 TO/gm.
44 Julie Helm G 5'11 Sr. 10.6 4.1 .688 % FT

OFF THE BENCH

No. Name Pos. Ht. Cl. PPG. RPG. OTHER
22 Tracy Franklin G/F 5'10 Jr. 6.5 1.9 5 blocks
45 Ekpe Akpaffiong F/C 6'0 Sr. 7.8 4.3 .889% FT
15 Kerensa Barr G 5'10 Fr. 3.6 2.1 3.0 asp.
52 Melissa Statham C 6'2 Fr. 0.8 1.3 7.3 min/g
20 Denise Cardenas G 5'10 Jr. 5.0 0.4 50% 3pt.

Missouri's Last Time Out
The Tigers are coming off of a big 78-65 victory over Saint Louis Univer-sity last Saturday night in St. Louis. Amanda Lassiter, the Big 12 Rookie-of- the-Week, posted career-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds to go along with 6 assists and 5 blocked shots. Four Tigers scored in double-fig-ures including Amy Monsees, who also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Julie Helm netted 16 points and became Mizzou's fourth all-time leading scorer and Marlena Williams hit for her average of 14 points while blocking four shots.

Lassiter Tabbed Big 12 Rookie-of- the-Week
As stated above, Amanda Lassiter was tabbed the Big 12 Rookie-of-the-Week. Lassiter averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 blocked shots in two games. Lassiter, who received very little notice when the pre-season votes were tallied for the Big 12 Newcomer-of-the-Year, has done it all for the Tigers in her first eight games.

Lassiter is Missouri's leader in assists (34), blocks (28) and steals (25). She is the Tigers second leading scorer and rebounder. She has already broken a Big 12 record for steals in a game (11) and has set a new Missouri record for blocks in a game (7).

Lassiter entered this week ranked second in the country in blocked shots at 3.5 per game.

Coach Stein Rewarded Contract Extension
Cindy Stein was rewarded with a two-year contract extension last week. Her new contract will carry her through the 2004 season.

Director of Athletics Mike Alden said that "the University was not taking this step just because of the success on the court, but because of the total success of her program." Alden stated that Stein's student-athletes "were doing well in school and the community, as well as on the basketball court."

Fans Are Taking Notice at MU
The University of Missouri began selling season tickets for women's basketball for the first time this season. Over 300 season tickets have been sold. But it has been more than the season ticket holders that are taking notice of the turnaround at the University of Missouri in women's basektball.

The Tigers drew over 1,000 fans seven times at the Hearnes Center last season. So far in 1999-00, the Tigers have played three home games and have drawn over 1,200 fans at each game. Missouri still has two more non-conference home games before opening up Big 12 play against conference favortie Iowa State on Jan. 5. The Tigers plan to take advantage of the Pokemon "Craze" on Dec. 30 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It will be ?Pokemon Night' at the Hearnes Center.

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 basket-ball followers might compare it to the Arkansas men's "40 Minutes of Hell." In eight games, Missouri has forced an average of 27.6 turnovers per game. The Tigers have 125 steals as a team so far, an average of 15.6 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. In 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. Centenary will also provide a sample of the Tigers disruptive press. The Ladies led Missouri 6-4. The next thing they knew, the Tigers had gone on a 34-0 run to take a 38-6 lead. 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 eight games, the Tigers are averaging 82.6 points per contest, good for 10th in the country. Mizzou's lowest point-total was 66 in it's victory over Southern Illinois.

Helm Keeps Climbing MU's Charts
Senior Julie Helm is already one of the most accomplished women's bas-ketball players in Missouri school his-tory. With every game she plays during her senior campaign, the Tiger record book will keep on changing. Helm moved into fourth place on Missouri's all-time scoring list on Sat-urday. She passed Nancy Rutter by scoring her 1,642nd point in the first half at Saint Louis. She now has 1,648 points for her career. Next up for Helm is Sharon Farrah, who owns third place with 1,820 points.

She is currently the career leader in free throw percentage at 80.8 percent. She is on her way to becoming the ca-reer leader in three-point field goals. Helm currently has 96 treys and is 21 away from all-time leader Stacy Will-iams. Helm is averaging 17.1 ppg. for her career. She just passed the 400 rebound mark and is four three-point field goals shy of 100. Helm is four free throws away from 400 and just passed the 100 steals mark. She also eclipsed the 3,000 minutes played mark for her career.

Bright
Sophomore point guard Natalie Bright has been one of the biggest fac-tors in the vast improvement of the Mis-souri Tigers women's basketball team. Bright played in every game as a fresh-man last year and gained valuable expe-rience, although struggling at times with turnovers.

Things have changed so far this sea-son as Bright is playing with much more confidence and a better feel for the game. In eight games, Bright has turned the ball over just nine times in 24.6 min-utes per game. She has 19 assists and is averaging 3.8 rebounds per contest. Bright is also scoring 7.9 points per game.

Freshman Kerensa Barr, the Mis-souri 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 be-hind Amanda Lassiter with 20 and is averaging 2.1 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 12 times, but she does have 21 assists. Barr is averaging 3.6 ppg. and has con-nected on three 3-point field goals.

Last year, Missouri's point guards turned the ball over 122 times and re-corded just 97 assists. Those numbers are about to change dramatically. The Bright/Barr combination has 40 assists to just 21 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 irri-tates '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 af-ter 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 re-bound. 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. Williams leads the Tigers in scor-ing with 13.9 ppg., despite playing with chronic shin splints that may nag her the entire season. What is eye-popping about that figure is that she is only play-ing 21.5 minutes per game, mainly due to the shin splints as well as foul diffi-culties. If ?Pep' can stay out of foul trouble, look out.

Where does this all come from?
Basketball talent runs through the blood of the Williams family. Most notible is her brother Frank, a McDonald's All-American and the starting point guard for the University of Illinois.

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 third on the club in scoring at 11.9 ppg. The 6-0 Kansas City native has been money in the bank when she has had a chance to score. She is shooting .557 percent from the floor and .893 from the free throw line. Monsees has also hit two of her four 3- point field goal tries this season. Monsees led the Tigers with 17 points on against Portland State and added nine more against San Diego State and was named to the All-Tourna-ment Team at the Pacific Bell/San Di-ego State Tournament.

New Roles for Tiger Vets Ekpe and Franklin
Senior Ekpe Akpaffiong and jun-ior 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 third leading rebounder at 4.3 per game and is averaging 7.8 points per game in 16.9 minutes per contest.

Where Akpaffiong has really ex-celled thus far is at the free throw line. She is 16-for-18 at the charity stripe this season.

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 6.5 ppg. and has come up with several key rebounds and steals for the Tigers.

In 18.8 minutes per game, Franklin has collected 11 assists, 12 steals and has blocked five shots.

Franklin was the key to Missouri's victory at Southern Illinois. She matched her career high with 13 points, 9 of them in the second half. Franklin also came up with two key steals and a big blocked shot.

Tigers Ink Three in Early Sign-ing 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 aver-aging 18 points per game and is shoot-ing 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 vol-leyball 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. She claimed the award over teammate and Nebraska signee Shahidrah Roberts, who had won the award the previous sea-son. Lozier was also a high school teammate of current Tiger Wannette Smith.