Jan. 12, 2001

Up Next
The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues Big 12 Conference action when they travel to Colorado and No. 7 Iowa State this week. The Tigers face the Buffaloes Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Boulder, Colo., before traveling to Ames to play the Cyclones on Wed., Jan. 17 at 7:00 p.m. The MU-Iowa State game will be carried live on the Mizzou Sports Network.

Following the two-game road stint, the Tigers return home to face the Kansas State Wildcats, on Sat., Jan. 20 at 3:00 p.m.

Tickets for Missouri women's basketball are available by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS or at the Hearnes Center ticket office.

Missouri Coverage
Missouri women's basketball is covered live on KFRU radio. David Lile, Gary Link and Jessica Jenkins offer all the action of Tiger women's hoops on 1400 AM.

Mizzou fans can also log onto the Missouri Tigers' Web site at www.MUTigers.com to get live coverage. Scroll down the left side of the MU Tigers main page and select Audio/Video. On the following page, scroll down and select the women's basketball Internet broadcast option. When the schedule of Mizzou women's basketball games is displayed, just choose the appropriate date and hit Go! (www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/Missouri/WomensBasketball/).

Turn on the Radio
The Cindy Stein Show features highlights of recent games, upcoming match-up and player profiles. Thursday nights at 7:00 p.m., live from Johnny's Beanery in Columbia, Mo., Head Coach Cindy Stein dishes Tiger women's basketball. Listen on KFRU radio 1400 AM.

Missouri vs. Colorado
Missouri and Colorado enter their fourth conference games of the season with identical 11-3, 2-1 Big 12 Conference records.

The Tigers are coming off a two-game home win streak downing No. 14 Texas 68-52 and Texas A&M 69-61. Missouri suffered its only conference loss to No. 9 Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, in their conference opener on Jan. 3.

The Buffaloes return home to host the Tigers after a 2-0 road stint. Colorado defeated Kansas State (67-62) and Oklahoma State (65-49). CU lost to No. 16 Oklahoma in Boulder, in its Big 12 season debut.

Both teams are working their way through the rigors of Big 12 Conference play. In their last games, both Missouri and Colorado shot only 35-36 percent from the field. Likewise, the factor keeping both teams in the winners bracket is their rebounding efforts. Missouri pulled down a season high 26 offensive and 59 overall rebounds against the Aggies and Colorado bested the Cowboys with eight (45-37). Missouri averages 43.9 rebounds per game, while Colorado records 42.9 per contest.

The Missouri-Colorado match-up will be an interesting test of maturity. The Tigers have a young squad, toting four freshman, two sophomores and one junior college transfer. The Buffaloes routinely start upperclassmen. Colorado has six juniors and one senior serving as its base.

Scouting the Buffaloes
Colorado leads the Big 12 Conference with a .775 free throw percentage and are second in blocked shots (66) and assist/turnover ratio (1.10). On the boards, the Buffaloes are fourth with 15.71 offensive boards and fifth with 27.14 defensive rebounds per game.

Junior guard Mandy Nightingale, who averages 14.9 points per game, also leads the Colorado with 56 assists and 29 steals. Nightingale is 10th in the Big 12 in overall scoring. She netted a single-game high draining 12-for-12 free throws against Florida.

Junior center Britt Hartshorn is second on the team averaging 11.1 points. She also leads the Buffaloes with 7.2 rebounds per game and 26 blocks. Hartshorn averages 1.86 blocked shots per game to rank third in the Big 12. She recorded a single-game conference high with five blocks against UC-Riverside.

Freshman Randi Wirt, is second on the team with 7.0 rebounds per game. She leads the Buffaloes with 44 offensive boards on the season and averages 5.6 points per outing. Wirt is eighth in the league with 3.14 offensive rebounds per game.

Last year, Colorado finished 10-19 with a 4-12 Big 12 Conference record to finish 10th in the league. Colorado returns nine letterwinners and five starters to the 2000-2001 team. Ceal Barry coaches the Buffaloes.

Series Shorts
Colorado leads the MU-CU series 25-20. The Tigers and the Buffaloes began series play in 1977 as members of the Big Eight Conference.

Missouri won the first three outings, before the Buffaloes posted an 83-63 win. The Tigers rebounded from the defeat going on a six-game run to own the series 9-1. MU's streak started a roller-coaster course of winning spells, with each team alternating on three-to-five game stands. Colorado owns the last series recording five wins from 1996-98.

For the last two years, the teams have split the season, each taking a win in regular conference play. In 1999-2000 the Tigers and the Buffaloes met three times, with Missouri losing the final meeting 83-68 in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

Last Year Against Colorado
Game #22
Amanda Lassiter recorded a double-double and Missouri won its fourth straight Big 12 Conference game with a 65-57 win over Colorado. The four-game conference-winning streak was Mizzou's longest since the 1991-92 campaign and the Tigers' 16th win marked the most wins in a season by Missouri since the 1992-93 season when they finished 19-8.

Amy Monsees led the Tigers with 19 points while Tracy Franklin came off the bench to score 11. The star of the game for Missouri was Lassiter, who tallied 17 points, 12 rebounds, four steals, three assists and two blocked shots.

Game #26
Missouri suffered a tough loss as the Colorado Buffaloes defeated Mizzou by a score of 72-64. The loss was Missouri's 11th straight in Boulder and dropped the Tigers to 7-8 in the Big 12 Conference and 17-9 overall.

The Tigers jumped to a 9-4 lead thanks to seven quick points by Natalie Bright, but that lead was short lived. Colorado took a 16-13 lead on five straight points by Jenny Roulier (21 points). The Buffs then opened up a 22-15 lead following back-to-back three-pointers by Mandy Nightingale. Colorado never gave up the lead the rest of the first stanza and led 36-31 at halftime.

In the second half, the Tigers scored nine straight points to take a 40-39 advantage at the 16:17 mark. The next 10 minutes of the game was like a game of tug-of-war. Six ties and 10 lead changes ensued until the 4:48 mark when CU's Eisha Bohman converted a back-door pass from Sabrina Scott to give the Buffaloes a 59-58 lead. That bucket led to an 8-0 run for Colorado as the Buffs went up 65-58. Amanda Lassiter brought the Tigers back within three points with a baseline jumper from the left side to cut the lead to 67-64 with 1:54 left, but those were the last points the Tigers would score.

Game #28
The Colorado backcourt of Jenny Roulier and Mandy Nightingale, in a four-minute span that squished MU's dream of making the NCAA Tournament, put on a hit-the-screen, sink the wide-open-shot instructional seminar at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

After playing the Buffaloes close until midway through the second half, MU faded down the stretch in an 83-68 loss.

The Tigers played more than 30 minutes of neck-and-neck basketball, and the game was tied at 56 with fewer than 10 to play. But 27 combined points wasn't good enough from Tiger seniors Julie Helm and Amy Monsees. Amanda Lassiter scored a team-high 17 points, but fouled out late in the game.

Missouri Downs Texas A&M
Contain, contest and box out were the Missouri women's basketball team's goals coming in against Texas A&M. Pulling down 59 rebounds, including a season high 26 offensive boards, the Tigers accomplished the task. Missouri defeated Texas A&M 69-61 loss to boost its season record to 11-3 with a 2-1 Big 12 Conference mark. The loss drops the Aggies to 11-3 and 1-2 in league play. The win also extends the Tigers home win streak to six on the year.

Evan Unrau, a 6-2 freshman forward, led the Tigers with a career high 20 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards. She is the first Mizzou player to pull down 20 rebounds in a single game since the 1998 season when Kesha Bonds had 23 against Colorado.

The Tigers got off to a strong start posting the first five points in the game. Missouri quickly ran up the score to lead 14-3 at the 15:00 mark. The Aggies fought back, bolstered by a six-point run led by forward Jaynetta Saunders (22 points). But before Mizzou could be overtaken, Unrau helped rebuild the Tigers lead scoring six in an eight-point run. Texas A&M continued to chisel away at MU's lead however, bringing the score within six-points to leave the half 37-31.

Tracy Franklin and Marlena Williams helped Missouri jump back in the second period with an eight-point run. The seniors alternated jumpers to boost the Tigers to 48-35. The rest of the game continued with a sporadic overtone as each team hit mini-runs to finish out the game. The Tigers carried a 10-point lead through the last six minutes of play before the Aggies were able to score four points to edge the final 69-61.

Both teams struggled to post points, the Tigers shot just 35 percent from the field while the Aggies hit just 36 percent of their shots. Despite the low score, Missouri had a season best giving up just 14 turnovers in the game.

Unrau recorded a double-double in the first half with 12 rebounds and 13 points. She scored 16 points overall, including six points from offensive rebounds. She also tied her career record with three steals. This marks the fourth double-double game for the freshman and her sixth in double figure scoring.

Adding to the Tiger's victory, Williams led the team with 17 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. Both figures fall just one point/board shy of her season marks. Senior Amanda Lassiter hit her 14th double-digit game scoring 14 points. She also had six rebounds and three blocks.

"I was very discouraged because we are so much better than that, but I'm also encouraged that we can play that bad and win," MU head coach Cindy Stein says. "I think it's one of those things where you just have to play through it. We've got to look at how we're practicing. I mean, that looked like yesterday's practice. It's a direct correlation, they need to understand that, and we need to work on it. We aren't going to win many games playing like that."

Bringing Down the Boards
Freshman Evan Unrau has proven once again why she deserves the right to carry the Big 12 Rookie of the Week title. Against Texas A&M, the 6-2 forward pulled down a career high 20 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards. This marks the first time a Mizzou player has had 20 rebounds in a single game since the 1998 season when Kesha Bonds had 23 boards against Colorado. Unrau leads the Tigers with 45 offensive and 112 total rebounds on the season.

Seeing Double
Evan Unrau has posted four double-doubles in her inaugural year on the Mizzou squad. She scored a career-high 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against No. 12 Texas shooting 80 percent from the field (8-of-10) and 100 percent from the foul line.

The forward also recorded double-double games this year with 16 points and 20 rebounds against Texas A&M, 15 points and 10 rebounds against Southern Illinois and knocking down 14 points and 13 rebounds against Illinois State.

Senior Amanda Lassiter has also posted four double-double games in 2000-2001. She led the day in MU's 68-52 victory over Texas with 22 points and 10 rebounds. She also recorded doubles against Arkansas (22-11), Kentucky (19-10) and San Diego State (31-11). *points-rebounds

Unrau Update
Evan Unrau has scored double figures in six games, including her previous career high of 16 points against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The forward was 6-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line against the Panthers. She pulled down a season high 11 defensive boards against Arkansas and had nine offensive boards against Illinois State.

Unrau leads the Tigers shooting 62 percent from the field netting 53-of-86 attempts. She also owns five perfect games from the free throw line.

Coming Home
MU's game against Colorado Saturday is a homecoming for freshman Evan Unrau. A native of Ft. Collins, Colo., the forward averaged 17 points and nine rebounds per game as a senior at Rocky Mountain High School. She was an All-Colorado team selection and named the Northern Conference Player of the Year in 2000.

Looking at Lassiter
Senior Amanda Lassiter leads the Tigers with 19.9 points and is second on the team with 7.5 rebounds per game. Lassiter has scored in double digits in all 14 games this season including setting a career high with 31 points against San Diego State. She also owns eight games scoring 20 or more points.

Lassiter has recorded 34 blocks this season to lead the team and top the Big 12. Lassiter set the single season blocked shot record as a junior last year with 69. She is curently ranked sixth in all-time blocks (103).

Watching Williams
Center/forward Marlena Williams is taking the Big 12 Conference by storm, in her last two games she has posted season highs in points and rebounds. Against Texas A&M she came just one point (17) and one rebound (7) shy of tying her season marks. Against Texas, she had season highs with eight rebounds and five steals. After a year plagued with foul trouble, she also posted a season best playing 34 minutes without a single foul.

Williams has averaged over 10 points in the last 4-of-5 games, including a season-high 19 points against Illinois. She also pulled down six rebounds and dished out four assists for a season high mark against the Illini. Williams shot 75 percent against Wisconsin-Milwaukee hitting 6-for-8 shots from the field. She is also 2-2 on the season from 3-point range, hitting her first 3-pointer against Texas Tech.

Bright Spot
Natalie Bright has come off the bench as one of the Tiger's key contributors this season. Against Texas, the junior scored five points and three rebounds in 14 minutes of play. She hit double figures against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Texas Tech. She had a perfect game against the Panthers hitting 4-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. In the conference opener against the Lady Raiders, Bright downed 3-for-4 from the field, was 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the foul line. She is shooting 50 percent from the field overall and hits 55 percent from 3-point range.

Barr Brief
Starting point guard Kerensa Barr is making a name for herself on the Mizzou hardwood as the floor leader. The sophomore leads the Tigers with 69 assists on the season. She averages 4.9 assists per game and hit her season high with seven against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Franklin Forecast

Guard Tracy Franklin recorded a career high as a senior scoring 18 points against Eastern Illinois. She also hit season marks against Southern Illinois pulling down 11 rebounds and grabbing nine steals. She is tied for third on the team averaging 9.9 points per game. She tops the charts with a .460 3-point field goal percentage. Franklin leads the Tigers with a .923 free throw percentage. She has hit 12-for-13 on the season. Her nine steals against SIU set a Big 12 season single-game record.

Tigers Got Game
Missouri (11-3) opened Big 12 Conference play with a 2-1 record and extended a home-game win streak to six. The Tigers fell to Texas Tech 82-64 in Lubbock, on Jan. 3. MU came back to defeat No. 12 Texas at home 68-52 (Jan. 6) and posted their 11th season victory against Texas A&M Wednesday. The triumph marks the first back-to-back victories the Tigers have taken over the Aggies in their five-year history.

Mizzou averages 80.3 points per game with a +16.6 scoring margin.

Rebounding Report
Mizzou is averaging 43.9 rebounds per game, including a season high 59 boards against Texas A&M. Freshman Evan Unrau recorded 20 rebounds in the game, including 11 offensive boards.

The Tigers are keeping their opponents to just 37.4 rebounds per contest for a +6.5 rebounding margin. Missouri owns a season mark against the Longhorns with 33 defensive rebounds.

Assist Average
The Tigers have dished out 239 assists so far this season to average 17.1 assists per game to almost double their opponents who only average 10.8 assists per outing. In their first five games this season, the Tigers out assisted their opponents 94-42. Missouri recorded 26 assists against Eastern Illinois (11/17) and 24 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (12/30).

Block Breakdown
Missouri is also topping the charts with 61 blocks on the year to average 4.4 blocks per game. MU's opponents have only knocked down 38 blocks this season. The Tigers have recorded nine games in 2000-2001 with five or more blocks, including six against Pepperdine, Lipscomb and Illinois State.

Although Texas A&M leads the Big 12 with 67 blocks on the season, in their match-up Wednesday, the Tigers bested the Aggies knocking down five blocks, while A&M only had three.

Conference Season Highs
Missouri is currently ranked fourth in the Big 12 Conference with a 2-1 league record. No. 7 Iowa State and No. 9 Texas Tech lead the pack with a 3-0 conference record. Mizzou ties Baylor, Colorado and Oklahoma. In Big 12 statistics, Missouri ranks in the Top 40 percent in 13 categories.

? The Tigers set a 2000-2001 season high hitting 42 field goals against Eastern Illinois the mark ranks second in conference season records.

? Missouri went 14-for-14 from the free throw line against Kentucky to lead the Big 12 in single-game free throw percentage.

Tigers in the NCAA
Missouri is among the nation's leaders in several categories. As of Jan. 8, Mizzou was ranked 13th in the nation with an 81.2 scoring offense and 16th with a 17.2 scoring margin. The Tigers are also tied for 14th shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range and came in 25th averaging 6.5 3-pointers per game.

Victory Margin
The Tigers 96-43 win over Lipscomb tops the season as MU's largest margin of victory. Mizzou has topped seven teams by more than 20 points, including a 47-point triumph over Eastern Illinois and a 35-point win over Kentucky.

Missouri is repeating history opening the 2000-2001 season with seven 20+ wins. In 1999-2000, the Tigers also recorded seven victories scoring 20 or more points over their opponents.

Tigers vs. Ranked Opponents
Missouri's 13-point triumph over then No. 12 Texas was the largest winning margin over a ranked team since the 1995-96 season when the Tigers defeated No. 20 Kansas 86-66. In the last six seasons, Missouri has claimed seven victories over ranked opponents, all in the Hearnes Center.

Mizzou in the Rankings
For the first time this season, the Tigers have received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. After defeating No. 12 Texas, Missouri received 18 votes from AP writers. The Tigers also climbed 19 spots in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, which ranks teams according to strength of schedule versus that of their opponents. Missouri was 63rd last week, but came in 44th this week with a 9-3 record over Division I opponents. (Released Jan. 9).

Hitting the Three
The Tigers have shot 40 percent or above from 3-point range in 10 of their 14 games. Missouri hit their season high 57 percent from the 3-point arc against San Diego State when the Tigers downed 8-of-14 attempts. Natalie Bright leads the Tigers from the 3-point arc shooting 55 percent (22-of-44). Tracy Franklin also posts an impressive 46 percent hitting 23-of-40 attempts. Center Marlena Williams broke out of her inside game to sink two 3s against conference opponents. She is shooting 100 percent from the 3-point arc with 2-for-2.

Topping Ten
Four Tiger athletes routinely hit double-figures, including Amanda Lassiter who is 14-for-14 and has yet to hit below 13-points in a game. Marlena Williams owns 10 double-digit games and senior Tracy Franklin and freshman Evan Unrau posts six including career-high 18 points against Eastern Illinois and No. 12 Texas, respectively.

Tiger Cheering Section
The Missouri women's basketball program is on the rise and fans are taking notice. The Tigers began selling season tickets for the first time last year and recorded over 500 season purchases in 1999-2000. Midway through this season, Missouri has upped its season ticket numbers to over 800 holders. The Tigers averaged 1,417 fans during the non-conference schedule to rank 49th in the nation in women's basketball attendance. Missouri hit its season high in its Big 12 home opener against Texas when 2,422 fans populated the Hearnes Center for Toy Day. Missouri had its second largest crowd of the year when 1,503 fans cheered on the Tigers in their win over Texas A&M.

Strength of Schedule
The 2000-2001 Missouri schedule is ranked in the top third of NCAA Division I schools by the WBCA/Summerville Women's Basketball pre-season poll.

Overall, the Tigers will take on four teams ranked in the Top 25 and three schools currently receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Polls. The Tigers face No. 7 Iowa State, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 15 Texas and No. 16 Oklahoma in Big 12 Conference action. MU also plays Baylor (87), Kansas (6) and Illinois (2).

In the Associated Press poll, Iowa State (7), Texas Tech (11), Texas (14), Oklahoma (17) and Baylor (23) represent the Big 12 Conference.

Also adding to Mizzou's schedule, the Tigers face nine teams that made post-season play in 1999-2000. Arkansas who advanced to the semifinals of the WNIT, Texas, Pepperdine, Nebraska and Kansas each traveled to the NCAA first round and Illinois was an NCAA second round participant. Iowa State and Oklahoma highlighted in the Sweet Sixteen and Texas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight.

Million Fan March
The Big 12 Conference and its member institutions will jointly embark on a fun and unique women's basketball promotional program for the 2000-01 season--The Million Fan March...to Madness.

The goal is for the Big 12 Conference to become the first to reach 1,000,000 in women's basketball attendance.

Last year the Big 12 led the nation in women's basketball attendance while setting all-time national highs in women's basketball total attendance and average attendance. The turnstiles clicked 802,419 times for an average of 4,720 fans per Big 12 contest, including the Big 12 Tournament.

In order to reach one million fans in 2000-01, the 12 schools and the conference tournament would have to increase their home attendance from last year roughly by 25 percent. Each institution would need to average about 1,500 fans per game or 16,000 over the course of the season.

2000-01 Big 12 Cumulative Attendance
Team Attendance (Games) Baylor 18,219 (7) Colorado 19,840 (8) Iowa State 77,246 (7) Kansas 10,847 (7) Kansas State 9,612 (7) Missouri 9,797 (7) Nebraska 25,208 (7) Oklahoma 13,965 (6) Oklahoma State 6,427 (3) Texas 50,247 (9) Texas A&M 9,958 (7) Texas Tech 97,913 (8)

Tiger Television
Catching all the action of Tiger women's basketball is now easier than ever, along with live radio coverage of every game on KFRU radio 1400 AM, six Mizzou games will be televised. Fox Sports Net and the Mizzou Sports Properties have each picked up three matches. This six game package offers the program the highest single season coverage to date.

Fox Sports Net will televise two Tiger home games, the Missouri-Kansas State game Sat., Jan. 20 and the Missouri-Kansas game Sat., Feb. 10. The network will also feature the Missouri-Baylor game in Waco, Texas, Sat., Feb. 17. All three games are scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.

Along with the networks 23 regular-season Big 12 game package, Fox Sports Net will also broadcast the Big 12 Tournament semifinals and championship games March 8-10.

Mizzou Sports Properties offers a similar package televising two home games and one from the road. MSP will shoot the Eastern Illinois game Fri., Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m., the Saint Louis game Thurs., Dec. 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hearnes Center. It will also cover the Iowa State game Wed., Jan. 17 at 7:00 p.m. from Ames, Iowa.