Feb. 18, 2000

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers (16-7, 6-6) face arguably their toughest task of the season on Saturday when they take on the ninth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones (18-5, 9-3) at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. Not only will the Tigers be battling one of the toughest teams in the country, they will be playing in front some 10,500 Cyclone fans who will pack Hilton Coliseum on Saturday evening.

Both Missouri and Iowa State are looking to bounce back from losses on Wednesday night. The Tigers suffered a tough 66-55 loss at Texas A&M in a game that saw Missouri shoot just 37 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, the Cyclones are coming off of their second consecutive loss as they had a 26-game home winning streak snapped by Kansas by a score of 79-71. It is the first time this season that Iowa State has dropped two straight games.

Missouri will be out to end a four-game losing streak against Iowa State on Saturday night. Mizzou owns the advantage in the all-time series, 39-10, but the Cyclones are 8-2 against Missouri under head coach Bill Fennelly.

Iowa State won this year's earlier meeting on Jan. 5 in Columbia 79-67, snapping Missouri's nine-game win streak. The Cyclones led 27-26 at halftime and shot just 35 percent in the half. The second half was a much different story.

Iowa State shot a sizzling 72 percent in the second stanza and used a 13-0 run midway through the half to put the Tigers away.

All-Big 12 point guard Stacy Frese did her part with a team-high 22 points for ISU, but it was the frontline of Angie Welle and Desiree Francis that did the damage. The Cyclones outrebounded the Tigers 45-25 thanks to a combined 25 rebounds by Welle and Francis.

Welle netted 18 points while pulling down 11 rebounds while Francis tallied 10 points (all in the second half) and 15 boards.

Amanda Lassiter paced the Tigers with 22 points, who shot 54 percent themselves in the second half. Julie Helm (13 points) and Marlena Williams (12 points) scored in double-figures for the Missouri.

Missouri Tigers (16-7, 6-6) -vs.- #9 Iowa State (18-5, 9-3)

TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m. CST.
RADIO/TV: KFRU 1400 AM (David Lile)
INTERNET: www.mutigers.com (LIVE)
ARENA: Hilton Coliseum (14,044)
SERIES: Missouri leads the all-time series 39-10.
COACHES:

Missouri: Cindy Stein (94-47 overall, 29-22 at MU)
ISU: Bill Fennelly (268-96 overall, 102-43 at Iowa State)

PROBABLE MISSOURI STARTERS

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Cl.	PPG.	RPG.	OTHER
24	Amanda Lassiter	F	6'1	Jr.	13.6	5.7	57 blocks
5	Amy Monsees	F	6'0	Sr.	10.4	5.3	.833% FT
45	Ekpe Akpaffiong	C	6'0	Sr.	5.9	3.5	.524% FG
32	Natalie Bright	G	5'8	So.	7.2	3.8	3.0 apg.
44	Julie Helm	G	5'11	Sr.	11.6	4.0	.788% FT

OFF THE BENCH

No.	Name	Pos.	Ht.	Cl.	PPG.	RPG.	OTHER
55	Marlena Williams	C	6'0	Jr.	11.3	5.3	13 blocks
22	Tracy Franklin	F/G	5'10	Jr.	5.6	2.4	31 assists
15	Kerensa Barr	G	5'10	Fr.	4.3	2.5	2.2 assists
52	Melissa Statham	C	6'2	Fr.	1.2	1.2	8.6 min/g

Scouting Iowa State
Head Coach Bill Fennelly's Cyclones are dangerous at every position. They feature the leagues' top point guard in Stacy Frese (14.3 ppg., 4.8 apg.) and one of the best frontlines in the nation.

Sophomore center Angie Welle is the ISU leading scorer at 14.5 ppg. as well as rebounding at 8.6 rpg.

Senior power-forward Desiree Francis averages 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest while small-forward Megan Taylor is posting averages of 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.

Missouri's Last Time Out
Missouri is coming off of a 66-55 loss at Texas A&M on Wednesday night. The loss snapped a four-game conference win streak.

The Tigers trailed 34-32 at halftime, but managed to take the lead just one time in the second half despite tying the game twice. As a matter of fact, Missouri was within one point of tying the game on six different occassions.

Missouri did even the score at 49-49 on a three-pointer by Tracy Franklin with 4:35 to go in the game. Following a Texas A&M timeout, point guard LaToya Rose answered Franklin's three with a trey of her own to give the Aggies a three-point advantage. The closest Mizzou would get from that point on was 54-51.

Julie Helm led the Tigers with 16 points and moved into third place on Missouri's all-time scoring chart. Marlena Williams added 11 points and six steals defensively off the bench.

Lassiter is Mizzou's Newcomer of the Year
Junior forward Amanda Lassiter has been everything the Tigers could have hoped for when she transfered to Mizzou from Central Arizona Junior College. She has been tabbed the Big 12 Rookie of the Week on three occassions so far this season.

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 23 games. She is Missouri's leader in scoring (13.6 ppg.), assists (3.5), blocks (57) and steals (66). She also leads the team in rebounding (5.7).

Lassiter 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 tied for fifth in the country in blocked shots with an average of 2.7 per game.

Lassiter's numbers have been even more impressive in Big 12 Conference play. She leads the club in scoring at 14.3 ppg. and is posting 6.5 rebounds per contest. Lassiter has also led Mizzou on the defensive end with 35 steals and 24 blocked shots.

Numbers Don't Lie
For those statistical fanatics out there, here are some interesting numbers regarding the Missouri women's basketball team so far this season.

The Missouri Tigers are undefeated when leading at halftime. The Tigers are 13-0 in that department and have won just twice when trailing at the half. Missouri is 1-1 when tied going into the halftime break.

The Tigers are also undefeated when they shoot a higher field goal percentage than their opponents. Missouri is a perfect 15-0 when out-shooting its opponents, and have won just one time when an opponent has topped the Tigers in that department.

Two other categories of note. Missouri is a perfect 9-0 when attempting more free throws than an opponent. The Tigers are also 15-1 when committing the same or fewer number of turnovers than their opponents.

Helm Watch Continues
Senior Julie Helm has literally re-written the Missouri Tiger record books in every game that she has played this season. Helm forced this SID to get out the eraser (OK, punch the delete key) once again this past Wednesday night.

Helm moved into third place on Missouri's all-time scoring list, passing Sharon Farrah. The Washington, Ind. native now has 1,830 points in her career.

With at least five more games to play, Helm still has one more record to chase. The record to watch is the all-time three-point field goals mark. Helm has 112 treys for her career and is just five away from becoming Missouri's all-time leader. Stacy Williams is the current all-time leader with 116 three-pointers.

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 500 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 11 home games and have drawn an average of 2,119 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.

Against Oklahoma, Missouri broke the single-game attendance mark at the Hearnes Center when 6,227 fans braved four inches of snow to support the Tigers.

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 23 games, Missouri has forced an average of 23.5 turnovers per game. The Tigers have 302 steals as a team so far, an average of 13.1 per game. Missouri averaged just over 8 steals per contest last year and totaled 243.

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 then there was 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.

Most recently, the Tigers put on another impressive spurt at Oklahoma State. Down 43-36 at halftime, Mizzou began the second half with a 14-0 run covering 9 minutes, 10 seconds. OSU came back to take the lead in the game, but Mizzou prevailed in the end.

MISSOURI'S LONGEST SPURTS

• 34-0 vs. Centenary
• 31-0 vs. Illinois State
• 30-0 vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 23-1 at San Diego State
• 14-0 at Oklahoma State

Bright Days for Missouri Point Guard
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 23 games, Bright has turned the ball over 53 times in 25.3 minutes per game. She has 68 assists and is averaging 3.8 rebounds per contest. Bright is also scoring 7.2 points per game.

Bright was the Missouri heroin three of the Tigers four victories during their four-game conference win streak. She scored 14 points, 12 in the second half to lead the Tigers down stretch on at Oklahoma State. She also added a career-high seven assists. Against Kansas State, Bright poured in a career-high 24 points, 15 of them in the second half including 7-of-12 free throws. Last Tuesday night, Bright had been held without a field goal until 30 seconds left in the game when she buried a short baseline jumper to give Missouri a 50-49 lead over Texas Tech.

Big Time Pep
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.

Lately, Williams has struggled with foul trouble, but she re-emerged in a huge way in the Tigers' 52-49 upset of No. 7 Texas Tech. Williams scored all 11 of her points in the second half and turned out to be a hero in the final seconds of the game. After Missouri wentup 50-49, Pep picked off a pass and was fouled immediately. She stepped up to the free throw line and buried both free throws to give the Tigers a three-point lead.

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.

Eight Minutes of Fame
All 5-7 sophomore guard Ali Johnston knew heading into Missouri's game against No.7 Texas Tech was that coach Cindy Stein told her to be ready. At the 16:20 mark of the second half, Johnston, averaging 5.3 mintes per game in just four appearances in Big 12 contests go the call.

Johnston entered the game with Missouri trailing 35-24. Texas Tech missed two shots and Johnston, who's career high in rebounds entering the game was two, pulled down both rebounds.

Two minutes later, the Red Raiders had a chance to go up 12, but a missed shot was rebounded by Johnston marking a new-career high in rebounds. The Tigers brought the ball up the floor and Johnston found herself open for an open jumper and drilled it to cut the lead to eight.

Missouri cut the lead to seven, when Tech missed another shot and sure enough, it was the 5-7 Johnston there for the rebound. The Tigers scored on their next possession to cut the Red Raiders lead to 37-32.

The next trip down the floor, Marlena Williams picked up a steal giving Mizzou possession. The Tigers ran a play and the ball ended up in Johnston's hands for an open three-point attempt. She nailed it, giving her a career-high five points to cut the lead to two, 37-35.

Before her eight minutes were up, the Evergreen, Colo. native added a steal and another rebound to her credit.

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 5.9 points per game and is shooting a team-best .524 percent from the floor. Akpaffiong is also averaging 3.5 rebounds per contest while having to guard many of MU's opponent's taller post players.

Monsees Heating Up
Senior captain Amy Monsees is bound and determined to make her final season at MU a memorable one. After struggling in early January with a sprained ankle, Monsees has been back to her steady self.

In her last eight games, Monsees is averaging 13.0 points and 6.1 rebounds a contest.

For the year, Monsees is averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds a game. She leads the Tigers in minutes played at 27.5 per game.

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 94-47 as Mizzou is off to a 16-7 start in 1999-00, including an upset win over seventh-ranked Texas Tech. 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.