Nov. 18, 2001
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues its run of in-state foes as it faces the Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears Monday at 7 p.m. at the Hearnes Center.
Both teams enter the contest with 1-0 records after recording wins on Friday (Nov. 16). Missouri won at UMKC, 67-48, while SMS won its 17th-straight home game by downing Saint Louis, 69-43.
Monday's game marks the fourth time the Tigers have played SMS in their home opener.
Broadcast: The game will be aired by KWWC (90.5 FM) with David Lile calling the play-by-play and Jessica Jenkins providing color commentary.
The game will also be televised by Mizzou Sports Properties. Chris Gervino will be the play-by-play announcer and Gary Link will handle color commentary.
Metro Sports (Kansas City), Pax 44 (Joplin), KDL-UPN 15 (Springfield), St. Joseph Cablevision and Charter Communications (St. Louis) and Mediacom (Columbia) will televise the contest.
The Foe: The Lady Bears of SMS had three players score in double figures in the win over Saint Louis.
Erica Vicente led the way with 17 points, six assists and five steals. Ann Cavey added 13 points, while Morgan Hohenberger netted 11 points. Charlotte Nelson and Erika Rante each scored nine points for the Lady Bears. Nelson had a game-high nine rebounds.
Cheryl Burnett is in her 15th season as the SMS head coach. She has guided the Lady Bears to a 304-123 record and 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
The Series: Since the 1975-76 season, Missouri leads the series with SMS, 14-4. Missouri does not have complete records for seasons prior to the 1975-76 campaign. SMS won two of the first three meetings and the past two contests between the two schools. Missouri had won 13 consecutive games before SMS snapped the streak on Dec. 5, 1989. Missouri is 8-2 at home against SMS.
Here's a list of the series' results:
*Jan. 31, 1975 - SMS 76, MU 66
*Nov. 29, 1975 - MU 95, SMS 53#
*Jan. 18, 1976 - @SMS 57, MU 52
*Feb. 22, 1976 - MU 78, SMS 63$
*Feb. 4, 1977 - MU 89, SMS 58
*Feb. 10, 1978 - MU 103, @SMS 78
*Feb. 23, 1978 - MU 93, SMS 60%
*Feb. 14, 1979 - MU 90, SMS 48
*Nov. 13, 1981 - MU 73, SMS 51
*Nov. 21, 1982 - MU 95, SMS 56
*Dec. 3, 1983 - MU 102, @SMS 69
*Dec. 5, 1984 - MU 104, SMS 69
*Dec. 10, 1985 - MU 78, @SMS 75
*Dec. 9, 1986 - MU 98, SMS 59
*Dec. 8, 1987 - MU 91, @SMS 82
*Nov. 29, 1988 - MU 75, SMS 52
*Dec. 5, 1989 - @SMS 71, MU 67
*Dec. 14, 1990 - SMS 56, MU 44
#-Turkey Tournament, Springfield, Mo.
$-MAIAW Tournament, Warrensburg, Mo.
%-MAIAW Tournament, Columbia, Mo.
Season-Opening Games: Missouri improved to 21-7 when opening the season by recording the 67-48 victory over UMKC.
The Tigers are now 7-2 when playing the first game of the season on the road. MU won its last road opener by a 92-49 decision at Bradley on Nov. 20, 1999. Under head coach Cindy Stein, Missouri is 4-0 when opening the season. The Tigers have won their last six games to open a season and 13 of their last 14 contests.
Home Openers: Missouri is 20-7 in home openers. The Tigers have previously faced SMS three times in their home opener and have won all three meetings.
MU's Last Time Out: Missouri used a 20-4 run to close the first half and roll to a 67-48 win over UMKC Friday night (Nov. 16) at the Swinney Recreation Center in Kansas City, Mo. The win, the Tigers' first of the season, was MU's sixth-straight season-opening win.
The Tigers were trailing 20-15 after UMKC's Starla Brown scored with six minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the first half. MU used eight points by Melanie Fisher and six points by Evan Unrau to go with strong defense to close the half with a 35-24 lead. Unrau scored on a putback to give MU a 23-22 lead with 4:37 left and the Tigers never trailed again.
Missouri sank all 10 of its first-half free throws and eventually made 23-of-28 free throws in the contest.
Kerensa Barr scored nine of her game-high 15 points in the first half while Unrau and Fisher each scored eight points in the opening 20 minutes. Fisher would finish with 14 points while Unrau and Natalie Bright added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Barr also led the Tigers in rebounds (nine) and assists (six).
The Firsts: Wannette Smith scored the Tigers' first points of the season off an in-bounds play. Kerensa Barr got the assist ... Barr sank the team's first 3-point field goal.
Unlucky 13: After making its first 12 foul shots, Missouri's 13th attempt was the first to go awry. MU went on to make 23 free throws, the second-most in the past 33 games dating back to last season.
Turnovers: Missouri forced UMKC to commit 28 turnovers, the most by an MU opponent since Eastern Illinois committed 33 turnovers in last season's opening game. The Tigers scored 27 points off of UMKC miscues.
Bests: Barr's nine rebounds tied her career-high mark against Baylor (2/17/01) ... Barr tied her career high of six field goals, also set against Baylor ... Lozier and Unrau's three steals tie their personal bests.
Missouri Head Coach: Cindy Stein is in her fourth season at the helm of the Tigers. She has a mark of 54-37 with Missouri and is 119-62 in seven seasons as a head coach. Stein is assisted this season by: associate head coach Betsy Yonkman, assistant coach Tanya Warren and assistant coach Edith Thompson. Former Missouri standouts Amanda Lassiter, Marlena "Pep" Williams and Tracy Franklin are serving as student assistants.
Stein has not coached a game against the Lady Bears.
Career leaders: Kerensa Barr and Natalie Bright continue to make an impact on the Tigers' all-time career charts.
Barr has made 31 3-point field goals in her career to rank eighth all-time at Missouri while Bright has made 56 to rank sixth.
Bright ranks sixth with 165 3-point field goal attempts while Barr is 10th with 84. Barr ranks fourth in 3-point field goal percentage at 36.9 percent while Bright is now 10th at 33.9 percent.
Barr has not quite cracked the program's all-time Top 10 list in career assists as she has 212 assists. Sarah Campbell (1983-85) is in 10th place with 247 assists.
Tickets are available for the upcoming season. Call 884-PAWS (7297) in Columbia or 1-800-CAT-PAWS (228-7297). Season tickets are only $50 for adults and $25 for youth/seniors. Family plans are available for $125 (two adults and two children). Single game general admission tickets are currently on sale. Adult general admission tickets are $5 with youth/senior general admission tickets costing $3.
Rankings: Missouri was picked by both the Big 12 Conference coaches and the media covering the league to finish 10th in the 2001-2002 league standings.
The Tigers have been picked 43rd nationally by Basketball News, a publication which chose the schools it feels will make the 2002 NCAA Tournament.
Radio Coverage: Missouri women's basketball is covered live on KFRU (1400 AM), KWWC (90.5 FM) or KLIK (1240 AM). David Lile, Gary Link and Jessica Jenkins offer all the action. A majority of the Tigers' games can be found on KFRU but various games will be on KWWC and KLIK. Mizzou fans can also log onto the Missouri web site, www.mutigers.com, for coverage.
Television Coverage: The Tigers will be on TV again when they face Southwest Missouri State. It will be shown on the Mizzou Sports Network. Missouri also appeared on TV against UMKC.
Tough Opponents: Missouri's schedule could rank with the nation's toughest as seven opponents are ranked in the Associated Press poll and nine are ranked in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. One could also throw Duke, a possible opponent as the Tigers will play in the Duke Classic On Nov. 24-25, in the mix as the Blue Devils are ranked in the top five in both polls and are the favorites to win the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
Youth is Served: Missouri's active roster of 11 consists of one senior (Natalie Bright), two juniors (Kerensa Barr and Wannette Smith), five sophomores (Tracy Lozier, Evan Unrau, Terianne Wolford, Amy Loftus and Melanie Fisher) and three freshmen (Lauren Podratz, Angie Carter and Megan Roney).
Exhibition Season: Missouri defeated Lincoln, 87-41, on Nov. 2 before suffering the 77-72 loss to the Houston Jaguars. Barr led the team in scoring for the exhibition contests as she averaged 21.5 points per game. She also had a team-high nine assists. Bright averaged 15 points per game and had eight assists to go with a team-high six steals. Evan Unrau averaged 14 points per game and snared a team-best 16 rebounds.
Last Year: The Tigers posted a 22-10 record and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Radio Show: Tiger Talk with Cindy Stein starts at 7 p.m. on Dec. 10. The show will originate from Harpo's and be aired by KFRU.
Signings: MU head coach Cindy Stein announced Wednesday (Nov. 14) the signing of Latoya Bond and Cherice Mack to National Letters of Intent.
Who's Next?: Missouri will play South Carolina on Saturday at 11 a.m. (Central) in the first round of the Duke Classic. Depending on the first-round results, MU will face either Duke or Davidson Sunday at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m.