Jan. 16, 2000

Missouri Tigers (11-3, 1-2)
-vs.-
Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-7, 1-2)

TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m. CST.

RADIO/TV: KOMU Channel 8 (Brian Neuner and Sean Kelley, KWWC 90.5 FM (David Lile, Sally Albers)

INTERNET: www.mutigers.com (LIVE)

ARENA: Bob Devaney Sports Center (13,500)

SERIES: Nebraska leads the all-time series 25-22.

COACHES: Missouri - Cindy Stein (89-43 overall, 24-18 at MU), NU - Paul Sanderford (416-149 overall, 51-29 at Nebraska)

Tigers Seek First Conference Road Win in Lincoln

The Missouri Tigers (11-3, 1-2) will go after their first Big 12 road win of the season on Tuesday night when they take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-7, 1-2) in Lincoln, Neb. Both teams are coming off of losses this past weekend. The Tigers fell at Texas by a score of 80-64 in Austin on Saturday afternoon while the Huskers were beaten by Iowa State 89-66 up in Ames.

Both teams have dropped two of their last three contests. Missouri was defeated at home by Iowa State before knocking off Baylor and losing at Texas. Nebraska suffered a home loss as well in their conference opener against Texas. The Huskers then went on the road and upset the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence before losing at Iowa State on Saturday.

Nebraska owns a 25-22 all-time advantage against Missouri. The two teams split two games last season with the Huskers winning at home by a score of 83-67 while the Tigers got revenge and ended a 19-game skid to Nebraska with a 74-66 victory in Columbia.

In Lincoln, Nebraska forced 35 MU turnovers and the guard combination of Nicole Kubik and Brooke Schwartz scored 16 points each in the Huskers victory. Missouri shot 46 percent for the game led by Julie Helm (19 points) and Amy Monsees (15 points).

In Columbia, Missouri trailed 29-25 at halftime, but outscored the Cornhuskers 49-37 in the second half to defeat Nebraska. Julie Helm netted 27 points for Mizzou, but the story was Tracy Franklin who put together a career-night with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Nebraska got 34 points out of Nicole Kubik, despite shooting just 1-for-10 from three-point range.

PROBABLE MISSOURI STARTERS

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Cl.	PPG.	RPG.	OTHER
24	Amanda Lassiter	F	6'1	Jr.	13.7	5.2	43 blocks
5	Amy Monsees	F	6'0	Sr.	9.4	5.0	.811% FT
55	Marlena Williams	C	6'0	Jr.	12.1	5.4	.504% FG
32	Natalie Bright	G	5'8	So.	6.6	3.9	1.6 TO/gm.
44	Julie Helm	G	5'11	Sr.	12.9	4.4	.368 3PT%

OFF THE BENCH

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Cl.	PPG.	RPG.	OTHER
22	Tracy Franklin	G/F	5'10	Jr.	6.1	2.1	6 blocks
45	Ekpe Akpaffiong	F/C	6'0	Sr.	7.1	3.9	.543% FG
15	Kerensa Barr	G	5'10	Fr.	5.6	2.7	29 steals
52	Melissa Statham	C	6'2	Fr.	1.4	1.4	8.8 min/g

Scouting Nebraska

Nebraska has not enjoyed the type of start that they were expecting in 1999-00, especially at home where the Huskers have dropped four games.

The Cornhuskers are led by one of the top backcourts in the country in seniors Nicole Kubik and Brooke Schwartz. Kubik leads the Huskers averaging 16.1 ppg. while dishing out 6.2 assists per contest. Kubik, who led the country in steals last season, has 48 so far this season.

Schwartz enters Tuesday's contest averaging 14.1 ppg. and 4.6 rebounds. She is shooting .441 percent from the floor.

Missouri will also have to deal with the Huskers' front line of senior Charlie Rogers and junior Casey Leonhardt. The 6-1 Rogers is averaging is averaging 9.6 points and 8.6 rebounds while the 6-5 transfer from Illinois, Leonhardt, is scoring 10.9 ppg. while grabbing 7.7 boards a contest.

Nebraska is coached by veteran Paul Sanderford, the owner of a .736 winning percentage. Sanderford is in his third season at Nebraska after guiding Western Kentucky to three Final Four appearances.

THIS WEEK IN THE BIG12(as of Jan. 15)

Standings	BIG 12	OVERALL
Iowa State	4-0	12-2
Oklahoma	3-0	13-3
Texas	3-1	11-5
Kansas	2-1	11-4
Oklahoma State	2-1	10-5
Texas Tech	2-2	13-2
Kansas State	2-2	9-8
MISSOURI	1-2	11-3
Nebraska	1-2	7-7
Texas A&M	1-3	9-5
Colorado	0-3	5-9
Baylor	0-4	5-9

Missouri's Last Time Out

The Tigers will be looking to bounce back after suffering an 80-64 defeat to Texas down in Austin on Saturday afternoon. Missouri suffered its worst shooting day of the season, 32.5 percent, and turned the ball over 25 times against the aggressive Longhorn defensive attack.

Missouri's starting five combined for 15-for-61 shooting in the game. Amanda Lassiter led Mizzou with 16 points, all in the second half, while contributing 6 rebounds, 5 blocked shots, 5 steals and 5 assists. Marlena Williams notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds despite playing just eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Tracy Franklin netted a career-high 15 points for the Tigers.

Mizzou was unable to contain Texas All-American candidate Edwina Brown who tallied 18 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 7 steals.

Lassiter Does it All

Junior forward Amanda Lassiter has been everything the Tigers could have hoped for when she transfered to Mizzou from Central Arizona Junior College. For the second time this season, Lassiter was tabbed the Big 12 Rookie-of-the-Week following two more stellar performances against Iowa State and Baylor two weeks back.

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 14 games. She is Missouri's leader in scoring (13.7 ppg.), assists (55), blocks (43) and steals (44). She is also averaging 5.2 rebounds per contest.

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 among the nation's top six in blocked shots with an average of 3.07 per game.

Coach Stein Rewarded Contract Extension

Cindy Stein was rewarded with a two-year contract extension by Director of Athletics Mike Alden. Her new contract will carry her through the 2004 season.

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 five home games and have drawn an average of 1,605 fans.

Missouri used "Pokemon Night" on Dec. 30 to draw 2,242 fans against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. That was followed by an attendance of 2,463 for the conference opener against Iowa State.

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 14 games, Missouri has forced an average of 25.5 turnovers per game. The Tigers have 202 steals as a team so far, an average of 14.4 per game. Missouri averaged just over 8 steals per contest last year.

Missouri was tied for the bottom in the Big 12 Conference in assist/turnover ratio last season at 0.74. How things have changed this season. The Tigers were at the top of the Big 12 with a ratio of 1.31 last week.

Dare We Say "Spurtability?"

So this SID is a Clark Kellogg fan.

Missouri has been a team that has been able to literally bury it's opponents with one big spurt.

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 also provides 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.

Illinois State also fell victim to the Tigers relentless press. Missouri jumped out to a 34-1 lead against the Redbirds and held ISU without a field goal for the first 13 minutes, 37 seconds of the contest. The Tigers led 3-1 and went on a 31-0 run forcing 13 turnovers in the process. At one point, ISU had 14 turnovers and had attempted just 12 shots.

And most recently, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who trailed the Tigers just 30-27 at halftime, and tied the game 34-34 before getting hit with a 37-5 run, and more impressive, a 30-0 run. Missouri found themselves up 71-39.

MISSOURI'S LONGEST SPURTS
34-0 vs. Centenary
31-0 vs. Illinois State
30-0 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
23-1 at San Diego State

Missouri Among the Nation's Statistical Leaders

Coach Cindy Stein wants her team to score and score a lot. The Tigers averaged 66.4 points a game last season, a number that Coach Stein wanted to see increase this season. That number has increased a lot.

Missouri is averaging 81.5 points per game, a figure that ranks among the nation's top 10. The Tigers have three players averaging double-figures and nine players averaging at least five points a game.

Missouri entered last week ranked sixth nationally in scoring margin (25.5) and sixth in free-throw percentage (.770).

Defensively, the Tigers were ranked 5th in the country in field goal defense. Mizzou's opponents are shooting .364 percent from the floor.

Back at the Helm

Senior Julie Helm continues to re-write the Missouri record books with every game she plays. Her numbers were expected to decrease a little bit this season with the additions of such scoring threats as Amanda Lassiter and Marlena Williams.

After a rough start to the season, Helm is back on a roll offensively, and is second on the team's scoring chart at 12.9 points per game. She busted out of a huge shooting slump against Eastern Illinois with 30 points in 21 minutes of play. She answered that performance by leading the Tigers with 16 points in 19 minutes of action against Illinois State. Helm led Mizzou for the third straight time with a 19 point peformance against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Helm moved into fourth place on Missouri's all-time scoring list at Saint Louis on Dec 11. She passed Nancy Rutter by scoring her 1,642nd point in the first half in MU's 78-65 victory. She now has 1,744 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 81.0 percent. She is on her way to becoming the career leader in three-point field goals. Helm currently has 107 treys and is 10 away from all-time leader Stacy Williams.

Helm is averaging 17.2 ppg. for her career. She just passed 600 made FG plateau and the 400 rebound mark and is averaging over four boards per game for her career. Helm also passed the 400 free throw mark and just recorded her 200th assist and passed the 100 steals mark. She also eclipsed the 3,000 minutes played mark for her career. Helm played in her 100th career game against Iowa State on Jan. 5.

The Future at Point Guard is Bright and Secure with Barr

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 14 games, Bright has turned the ball over just 23 times in 24.3 minutes per game. She has 39 assists and is averaging 3.9 rebounds per contest. Bright is also scoring 7.1 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 29 and is averaging 2.7 rebounds from the point guard spot.

Offensively, Barr is improving with every game. She went the first two exhibition games and the first regular season game against Bradley without a turnover. Since, she has turned it over 28 times, but she does have 35 assists. Barr is averaging 5.6 ppg. and has connected on nine 3-point field goals.

Last year, Missouri's point guards turned the ball over 122 times and recorded just 97 assists. Those numbers have changed dramatically this season. The Bright/Barr combination has 74 assists to just 51 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 backyard 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.

Williams is third on the club in scoring with 12.1 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 playing 20.3 minutes per game because of foul trouble, shin splints and Mizzou blowouts.

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 fourth on the club in scoring at 9.4 ppg. The 6-0 Kansas City native is shooting .516 percent from the floor and .811 from the free throw line. Monsees has also hit 4-of-8 three-pointers 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-Tournament Team at the Pacific Bell/San Diego State Tournament.

Franklin a Force Off the Bench

After starting nearly half of Missouri's games last season, junior Tracy Franklin has been coming off of the bench this season. It has been a move that has been very effective for the Tigers this season.

Franklin's newly found aggression on the court this season has given Mizzou a huge lift. She is averaging 6.1 ppg. and 2.1 rebounds. Her 13-point performance at Southern Illinois keyed Missouri's 66-61 victory back on Dec. 7. This past Saturday at Texas, Franklin celebrated her 21st birthday with a career-high 15 points against the Longhorns.

New Role for Akpaffiong

Senior Ekpe Akpaffiong has also had to adjust to a new role this season. After starting 59 games in three seasons for Missouri, Akpaffiong has been coming off the bench this season and has been a real spark.

She is averaging 7.1 points per game and is shooting .543 from the floor. Akpaffiong is also averaging 3.9 rebounds per contest while having to guard many of MU's opponent's taller post players.

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 Valley 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. She claimed the award over teammate and Nebraska signee Shahidrah Roberts, who had won the award the previous season. Lozier was also a high school teammate of current Tiger Wannette Smith.

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 89-43 as Mizzou is off to a 11-3 start in 1999-00. 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.