Jan. 16, 2001

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The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues Big 12 Conference action when they travel to Ames, Iowa to take-on No. 7 Iowa State this Wednesday. The Tigers face the Cyclones at 7:00 p.m., at Hilton Coliseum. The MU-Iowa State game will be carried live on the Mizzou Sports Network.

The Tigers return home to face the Kansas State Wildcats, on Sat., Jan. 20 at 3:00 p.m. Following the K-State game, Missouri gets a seven-day reprieve before playing at Nebraska, Sat., Jan. 27.

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. No. 7 Iowa State
Missouri is 11-4 with a 2-2 Big 12 Conference record. The 2000-2001 Tigers are off to their best Big 12 start heading into the fifth league game of the year. In the past four seasons, MU was 0-4 and 1-3 going into the fifth conference game.

The Tigers are coming off a two-game home win streak downing No. 14 Texas 68-52 and Texas A&M 69-61. Missouri's losses were both suffered on the road. The Tigers fell to No. 9 Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, in their conference opener on Jan. 3. MU was also defeated by Colorado last Saturday in Boulder.

No. 7 Iowa State is 13-1 with a 4-0 conference mark, recording its best season start to date. Iowa State leads the Big 12 with wins over Kansas State (84-58), No. 19 Oklahoma (81-79), Kansas (67-48) and Nebraska (89-46). The Cyclones owe their only loss of the season to No. 6 Duke (81-63). The MU-ISU game rounds out a three-game home stand for the Cyclones.

A huge component to the Missouri-Iowa State game will hinge on rebounding. The Tigers are averaging 46.2 rebounds per game and a +8.2 rebounding margin to lead the Big 12 in conference play. Missouri is also second in the conference with 19 offensive rebounds per game and comes in third with 27.25 defensive boards per contest. Iowa State averages 12.0 offensive and 24.5 defensive rebounds per game.

A player to watch in the MU-ISU series is Cyclone senior Megan Taylor. In her last six outings with the Tigers, she has posted double figures five times. Last season she scored 26 points shooting 77 percent fromthe floor and 80 percent from 3-point range.

Iowa State is led by junior center Angie Welle who averages a double-double with 17.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Welle also leads the team with 13 blocks. The center leads the Big 12 Conference with a .669 field goal percentage and is second in rebounding.

The Cyclones have three other athletes that average in double figures: Junior Tracy Gahan is second on the team with 12.9 points and eight rebounds per game. Gahan is sixth in the league with a .541 field goal percentage and is eighth shooting .809 from the free throw line. Senior Megan Taylor averages 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds and sophomore Lindsey Wilson averages 12.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest. She also leads the team with 62 assists on the year to rank fifth in the Big 12.

Overall, Iowa State is shooting .497 as a team from the field and .433 from 3-point range. The Cyclones out score their opponents with a 19.3 scoring margin and +9.1 rebounds per game.

Last season, the Cyclones finished 27-6 with a 13-3 Big 12 Conference record to tie for first in league standings. Iowa State traveled to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen Midwest Region before getting knocked out of postseason play in a 66-65 heartbreaker to Penn State. The Cyclones return three starters and seven letterwinners to this season's squad. Head Coach Bill Fennelly is in his sixth year at Iowa State.

Series Shorts
Missouri leads the MU-ISU series 40-12. The Tigers and the Cyclones began their rivalry in 1977 as members of the Big Eight Conference. Missouri dominated the series winning the first 29 games before giving up a 79-58 loss to the Cyclones in Ames in 1991.

Over the last five seasons, Iowa State has been the dominant team taking eight of the last 11 meetings. The Tigers are 18-3 against the Cyclones in the Hearnes Center.

Last Year Against Iowa State
Game #12
Stacy Frese scored 22 points as No. 10 Iowa State beat Missouri 79-67. Angie Welle and Megan Taylor added 18 points each for the Cyclones, who won their sixth straight and ended Missouri's nine-game winning streak.

Iowa State took a 27-26 lead at halftime, but there were five lead changes and five ties in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Iowa State then scored 13 straight to take the lead hold off Missouri. The Cyclones were 19-for-26 on free throws, while Missouri made just five.

Amanda Lassiter scored a career-high 22 points for Missouri, including 17 in the second half. Julie Helm added 13 for the Tigers.

Iowa State out rebounded Missouri 45 to 25 and held the Tigers well below their scoring average of 84.0, fifth in the nation.

Game #24
Megan Taylor scored 26 points and made six of her team's school-record 18 3-pointers, leading No. 10 Iowa State to a 101-66 victory over Missouri and back into first place in the Big 12.

Missouri was a step slow on defense all night and Iowa State had numerous wide-open shots. The Cyclones shot 54 percent overall and were 18-of-29 (62 percent) on 3-pointers.

Marlena Williams led Missouri with 16 points and Julie Helm scored 14. Overall, the Tigers shot 24 percent in the half and 39 percent for the game.

Missouri Falls to Colorado
Missouri fell to 11-4 with a 2-2 Big 12 Conference record after a 98-90 loss to Colorado. The win boosted the Buffaloes to 12-3 and 3-1 in the conference.

The game had all the qualities of a gut wrenching action adventure thriller. In the first half, the Tigers shot a dismal 36 percent from the field and only 31 percent from the 3-point arc. Colorado shot 61 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free throw line to post its points. Keeping Missouri in the game however was repeated shot attempts and heavy rebounding. Missouri pulled down 23 boards in the first half alone, including 14 offensive rebounds. Despite the defensive efforts, MU left the half with a 12-point deficit.

The Tigers throttled into the second period with a five-point run. Back-to-back steals by senior Amanda Lassiter enabled Mizzou to take control of the court for seven more unanswered points. In the scoring flurry, the Tigers edged the Buffaloes into a one-point game. The contest intensified rounding into the last minutes of play, where the heated match turned into a fouling frenzy that led to CU's victory. In the last minute, Colorado scored six-points from the charity stripe to exit with an eight-point win.

Lassiter led the Tigers with 28 points, four blocks and two steals. The game marked her 15th in double figure and her ninth with more than 20 points. Senior Marlena Williams scored a career-high 24 points. She was 10-of-19 from the field, 3-for-4 from the foul line and 1-for-1 from 3-point range. The center is hitting 100 percent from the 3-point arc making 3-for-3 in Big 12 Conference action. Freshman Evan Unrau, a native of Ft. Collins, Colo., scored seven points and pulled down six rebounds in front of her hometown crowd.

Bringing Down the Boards
Freshman Evan Unrau recorded a career best 20 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards against Texas A&M. That marked 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 48 offensive and 118 total rebounds on the season. She also tops the charts averaging 7.9 rebounds per game.

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 in 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 60 percent from the field netting 55-of-91 attempts. She also owns five perfect games from the free throw line.

Looking at Lassiter
Senior Amanda Lassiter leads the Tigers with 20.4 points and is second on the team with 7.2 rebounds per game. Lassiter has scored in double digits in all 15 games this season including setting a career high with 31 points against San Diego State. She also owns nine games scoring 20 or more points, including 28 points against Colorado last Saturday.

Lassiter has recorded 38 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 currently ranked sixth in all-time blocks (107). Watching Williams
Center/forward Marlena Williams is taking the Big 12 Conference by storm. In her last three games she has posted season highs in points and rebounds. She had a career-high 24 points against Colorado hitting 10-of-19 from the field and 1-for-1 from 3-point range. She also had five assists in the game. Against Texas A&M, Williams came just one point (17) and one rebound (7) shy of tying her previous 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 5-of-6 games, including her first +20 point game against the Buffaloes. The center shot 75 percent against Wisconsin-Milwaukee hitting 6-for-8 shots from the field. She is also 3-3 on the season from 3-point range, hitting her first 3-pointer against Texas Tech.

Bright Spot
Natalie Bright is proving her versatility in her new role on the Tigers squad this year. The junior started 28-of-30 games she played in last season to average 7.3 points and come in second on the team with 86 asists.

This year, Bright has come off the bench as one of the Tigers' key contributors. Against Texas, the junior rejuvinated the Missouri effort with 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 47 percent from the field overall and hits 50 percent from 3-point range.

Bright has lit up the scoreboard from behind the 3-point arc during conference play for the Tigers. In Big 12 games, she ranks 13th with a .455 3-point field goal percentage making 5-of-11 attempts in four games.

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 74 assists on the season. She averages 4.9 assists per game and hit her season high with seven against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Barr is fifth on the team averaging 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She is second on the team with 31 offensive rebounds and 23 steals.

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 third on the team averaging 9.7 points per game. She tops the charts with a .418 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 (11-4) opened Big 12 Conference play with a 2-2 record, to post its best league start in history. The Tigers are 2-0 on the home court defeating then No. 9 Texas (68-52) and Texas A&M (69-61). Missouri has suffered both its conference losses on the road, falling to Texas Tech (82-64) in Lubbock and Colorado (90-98) in Bolder.

Mizzou averages 80.9 points per game with a +14.9 scoring margin.

Rebounding Report
Mizzou is averaging 43.5 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 37.3 rebounds per contest for a +6.3 rebounding margin. Missouri owns a season mark against the Longhorns with 33 defensive rebounds.

Assist Average
The Tigers have dished out 262 assists so far this season to average 17.5 assists per game to almost double their opponents who only average 11.6 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 67 blocks on the year to average 4.5 blocks per game. MU's opponents have only knocked down 42 blocks this season. The Tigers have recorded 10 games in 2000-2001 with five or more blocks, including six against Pepperdine, Lipscomb, Illinois State and Colorado.

Although Texas A&M and Colorado lead the Big 12 with 70 blocks on the season, in their match-ups, the Tigers bested both the Aggies and Buffaloes. MU were 5-to-3 against the TA&M and 6-to-4 against the Buffaloes.

Off the Bench
Missouri is relying heavily on the production of its bench this season. The MU bench corps has scored 329 of its 1,214 season points to average 21.9 points per game. In comparison, only 19.1 points per game were scored by the opponent's substitutions.

Conference Season Highs
Missouri is currently ranked seventh in the Big 12 Conference with a 2-2 league record. No. 7 Iowa State and No. 9 Texas Tech lead the pack with 4-0 conference records. Mizzou ties Baylor and Texas. In Big 12 statistics, Missouri ranks in the Top 40 percent in 11 categories.

? The Tigers set a 2000-2001 season high hitting 42 field goals against Eastern Illinoi. That 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. In the most recent NCAA statistics released 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 second week 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. After the Tiger's 90-98 loss to Colorado, MU recorded four votes from AP writes.

The Tigers also climbed 9 more spots in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, which ranks teams according to strength of schedule versus that of their opponents. Missouri was 63rd two weeks ago, but came in 44th last week after their win over Texas. Despite losing to Colorado, Missouri came in 35th in this week's RPI rating.

Hitting the Three
The Tigers have shot 40 percent or above from 3-point range in 11 of their 15 games. Missouri hit a 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 50 percent (12-of-24). Tracy Franklin also posts an impressive 41 percent hitting 23-of-55 attempts. Center Marlena Williams broke out of her inside game to sink three 3s against conference opponents. She is shooting 100 percent from the 3-point arc with 3-for-3.

Topping Ten
Four Tiger athletes routinely hit double-figures, including Amanda Lassiter who is 15-for-14 and has yet to hit below 13-points in a game. Marlena Williams owns 12 double-digit games and senior including her career high of 24 points. Tracy Franklin and freshman Evan Unrau post six double figure games, including career-highs with 18 points against Eastern Illinois and No. 12 Texas, respectively.

Making the Grade
The Tiger women's basketball team is proving they can get it done on and off the court. Junior Christa Millham, an elementary education major, was one of 25 Missouri athletes to post a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the 2000 fall semester. Joining Millham in the spotlight, seven other athletes were named to the Student-Athlete Dean's List: Kerensa Barr, Tracy Franklin, Amy Loftus, Tracy Lozier, Wendy Okeson, Evan Unrau and Terianne Wolford.

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.

Head to the Hearnes
The Tigers are looking to break new ground this season by packing the Hearnes Center during the MU-Kansas game on Sat., Feb. 10 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets for the game are just $1.00 and can be purchased from the Mizzou Ticket Office.

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 Oklahoma and No. 17 Texas in Big 12 Conference action. MU also plays Baylor (17), Kansas (11) and Colorado (3).

In the Associated Press poll, Iowa State (7th), Texas Tech (9th), Oklahoma (13), Texas (17th) and Baylor (25th) 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.

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 shot the Eastern Illinois game Nov. 17 and the Saint Louis game Dec. 7 in the Hearnes Center. It will also cover the Iowa State game this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. from Ames, Iowa.