Feb. 12, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues play in the Big 12 Conference this week against:
*Missouri (14-8, 5-6 Big 12) at No. 13/13 Colorado (18-7, 8-4 Big 12)
*Wednesday - 8 p.m., Coors Event Center, Boulder, Colo.
*Missouri (14-8, 5-6 Big 12) at Texas A&M (12-11, 4-7 Big 12)
*Saturday - 1 p.m., Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Wednesday's Foe: Colorado enters the contest after seeing its eight-game win streak snapped with an 85-75 loss at Iowa State on Feb. 9. Senior guard Mandy Nightingale leads the team in scoring (13.8 points per game), assists (4.8 apg) and steals (1.52 spg). Jenny Roulier averages 12.0 points per game and has made a team-high 55 3-point field goals. Nightingale has made 54 3-point field goals. Tera Bjorklund averages 12.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Britt Hartshorn leads the team with 124 rebounds and 39 blocked shots. Colorado is 12-1 at home this season. Head coach Ceal Barry is 366-204 in 19 seasons at Colorado and has a mark of 449-246 in 23 seasons as a head coach.
MU-CU Series: Wednesday's game will be the 51st meeting between the two schools and eighth game in the past three seasons. Colorado holds a 29-21 lead in the series and has won 12 of the 16 meetings when it was ranked. In Boulder, Colorado has won 15 of the 20 meetings. Missouri's last win in Boulder was a 58-55 decision on Feb. 7, 1990.
Last Meeting (This Year): Jenny Roulier had 19 first-half points to power No. 20/19 Colorado to a 78-56 victory over Missouri at the Hearnes Center. Colorado opened the game with a 22-9 run behind the play of senior guard Jenny Roulier who scored 14 of the Buffaloes' first 16 points. Missouri answered with an 11-2 run to make it 24-20. Melanie Fisher scored five of those points and Amy Loftus added four points during MU's run. Loftus finished with a career-high 16 points. After Missouri's run, CU scored six straight points to push its lead back to 10 points, 30-20, and the Buffaloes were never threatened again.
Last Meeting (MU vs. CU in Boulder): Despite 28 points, four blocked shots and two steals by Amanda Lassiter, Missouri suffered a 98-90 loss to Colorado. Marlena Williams added 24 points for the Tigers. Colorado shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field in the first half to take a 48-36 lead at the half. Linda Lappe (22 points) and Tera Bjorkland (21 points) led the Buffaloes. MU used a 7-0 run to make it a one-point game before a Williams free throw gave the Tigers a 76-75 lead. After the teams traded baskets, Colorado closed the game with a 10-0 run.
The Matchup: Both teams like to shoot the 3-point field goal and they rank third and fourth in the Big 12 statistics in that category. Colorado makes an average of 6.28 3's per game while the Tigers make an average 5.55 3's per game. In Big 12 play, Colorado leads the league in 3-point field goal percentage at 39.5 percent (77-of-195) while the Tigers are fifth in 3-point field goal percentage defense. MU's foes make 31.4 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. The Buffaloes lead the league in offense (77.7 points per game) and are second in defense (64.1 ppg) while the Tigers are eighth in offense (63.5 ppg) and third in defense (67.4 ppg).
Missouri's Last Time Out: With a record crowd of 10,321 fans in attendance, Missouri made sure it did not disappoint the fans as it recorded a 69-57 victory over Kansas Saturday (Feb. 9) at the Hearnes Center. The win was Missouri's fifth straight over Kansas and the crowd topped last year's mark of 10,126 set against Kansas on Feb. 10, 2001. Kerensa Barr had a career-high tying 24 points and five assists to lead the Tigers. Barr now has 301 career assists and ranks fifth all-time at Missouri. Evan Unrau had 16 points and 13 rebounds to record her sixth double-double of the season.
Rebound Queen: By snaring 13 rebounds against Kansas (2/9), Evan Unrau now has led the Tigers in rebounds 11 times. Unrau has now collected 10 or more rebounds in seven games this season and twice in the Tigers' past three outings.
Get That Out Of Here: Amy Loftus became the first Tiger to block three shots this season as she had three rejections, all in the first half, against the Jayhawks (2/9). The three blocked shots are a career best for Loftus.
Television Coverage: MU improved to 5-0 this season on TV with the win over Kansas on Feb. 9. MU's next game on TV will be Saturday's Texas A&M game on Fox Sports Net.
60,000 Points: Missouri has now scored 60,200 points during its time as a women's basketball program. Kerensa Barr scored the program's 60,000th point on a free throw this season at Iowa State (1/30).
Single-Season Marks: Natalie Bright and Kerensa Barr continue making an assault on the single-season Missouri records. Bright ranks third all-time with her 37 3-point field goals made and her 107 attempts rank third as well. Barr's 28 made 3-pointers rank eighth all-time at Missouri. Barr's 87 3-point field goal attempts rank sixth all-time at MU. Barr's free throw percentage mark of 90.3 percent would be the program's all-time best mark if the season would end before the Colorado contest. In case you were or were not wondering, Barr needs 38 more made foul shots to crack the program's top 10 list for made free throws in a season.
In the starting lineup: Kerensa Barr has started 56 games and has made a team-high 54 consecutive starts in her career. Natalie Bright leads the Tigers with 63 all-time starts and Evan Unrau has made 53 starts.
Now Out: Missouri did not receive a vote the Feb. 4th Associated Press poll. MU had appeared seven times in the last nine editions of the AP poll. The Tigers had received votes for three consecutive weeks in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Coaches poll but that streak ended with the Dec. 24 poll.
Miss Saturday Night (or Day): In the past four Saturday games, Evan Unrau has scored 57 points and snared 56 rebounds. Unrau has collected three of her team-high six double-doubles during that stretch.
In Wins, In Losses: In Missouri's 14 wins this season, the Tigers average 75.9 points per game and allow opponents only 55.7 points. MU shoots 42.9 percent from the field when it wins and forces opponents into shooting 38.9 percent and committing an average of 22.6 turnovers per game. When the Tigers lose, opponents average 77.0 points and 18.3 turnovers per game and shoot an impressive 51.9 percent from the field. By comparison, MU, when it loses, averages 57.2 points and 20.5 turnovers per game while shooting 36.9 percent from the field.
A Win Would ...: If Missouri defeats Colorado, it would ...
*be Missouri's first win in Colorado since Feb. 7, 1990, a stretch of 11 games
*give Missouri its second win of the season against a ranked foe
*push head coach Cindy Stein's record at MU to 68-45
*give Missouri 499 all-time victories
*cut into Colorado's lead in the series (currently CU leads, 29-21)
*even Missouri's conference record at 6-6.
NCAA Picks: From the 'I guess it's never too early to talk about the NCAA Tournament' department ... CollegeRPI.com has had Missouri making the NCAA's field of 64. On Jan. 21, it predicted Missouri would face Iowa in the first round of the East Region as the region's eighth seed. On Jan. 28, CollegeRPI.com predicted that Missouri would play Virginia Tech in the Midwest Region and be the region's 12 seed. The predictions for Feb. 4 and Feb. 11 did not have Missouri in the field of 64.
Offensive Rebounds: In addition to serving as the Tigers' top rebounders, Melanie Fisher and Evan Unrau are cleaning the glass on Missouri's offensive side of the floor, too. Of Fisher's 136 rebounds, 60 (44 percent) are offensive while of Unrau's team-high 178 rebounds, 76 (40 percent) are on the offensive end of the floor.
Offensive Rebounds II: Missouri grabbed a season-high 23 offensive boards in the win over Texas Tech (1/9). MU's previous high of 18 offensive rebounds came against Southeast Missouri (12/1) and UMKC (11/16). For the third time in four Saturday games, Missouri snared at least 20 offensive rebounds. The Tigers recorded 20 offensive rebounds (38 total) against Baylor (1/19), 21 (47 total) against Nebraska (2/2) and 20 against Kansas (2/9)
Career Year: Kerensa Barr is within 17 points (almost her per-game scoring average) of scoring as many points this season as she did in her first two seasons combined. Barr has scored 351 points this season (16 points per game) and Barr scored a total of 368 points during her freshman and sophomore seasons.
Career Year II: Natalie Bright has scored 257 points this season, more than she has scored in any other season during her Missouri career.
If The Season Ended ...: If the 2001-2002 season somehow ended before Wednesday's game against Colorado, Evan Unrau would rank fourth on the career charts for rebounds per game average. Unrau has averaged 7.6 rebounds per game, giving her 408 in her brief, 54-game career at MU.
Forcing Turnovers: Missouri has forced opponents to commit 462 turnovers this season (average of 21.0). Opponents have committed 20 or more turnovers in 13 of Missouri's 22 games this year.
Barr and Free Throws: Kerensa Barr is back in first place all-time in career free throw percentage at Missouri after making all three of her free throw attempts against Kansas (2/9). Barr has made 189-of-237 foul shots (79.74 percent) while Julie Helm (1997-2000) ranks second at 79.7 percent. Barr's performance this season (if it ended prior to the Kansas game) would set a school record. Barr's mark of 93-of-103 free throws for 90.3 percent easily surpasses the previous mark of 84.6 percent by Lisa Plummer in the 1980-81 season. Barr saw her streak of 26 consecutive made free throws fall against Colorado (1/26). She also had a streak of 23 consecutive made foul shots earlier this year.
NCAA Stats: Kerensa Barr ranks fifth nationally in free throw percentage, according to the Feb. 4 statistical report released by the NCAA. Barr, who led the nation until that report, is not doing poorly from the free-throw line this season, now making 90 percent of her shots (90x100).
Long Time, No Three: Missouri went almost 33 minutes without making a 3-point field goal against Texas Tech (1/9). Natalie Bright finally made one with 7:24 left in the game to break the shutout. While the one 3-point field goal ties the low this season (also done against Davidson on Nov. 24), the last time MU was blanked in the 3-point field goal category was on Jan. 27, 1999, in a 78-54 loss at Baylor. Missouri's last time at home without a 3-pointer came on Dec. 5, 1998, in an 87-76 victory over Louisville. Since the Baylor game, the streak of Missouri making at least one 3-point field goal in a game is at 95 games.
Nearing 500: Missouri has won 498 games in its 28 seasons and could become the 51st NCAA Division I program to equal or surpass the 500-win total.
Fans, Fans, Fans: The record-setting crowd of 10,321 against Kansas (2/9) has moved Missouri to 31st in the 2001-02 National Women's Basketball Home Attendance Poll. This poll is an unofficial and voluntary collection of NCAA Division I home attendance statistics compiled weekly by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sports Information Office. Missouri was 48th prior to the Feb. 9 crowd, which is the nation's 42nd-largest crowd this season. The Tigers average 2,688 fans per game this season, well above last season's average of 2,255 during the same number of home games.
Who's Next? The Tigers continue on the road, taking on Texas A&M on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Missouri/Texas A&M game will be televised by Fox Sports Net. Missouri will close the home schedule against a pair of nationally ranked teams, first meeting Iowa State on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. and Oklahoma on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. The Missouri/Oklahoma game will also be televised by Fox Sports Net.