Feb. 18, 2002
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues play in the Big 12 Conference this week against:
*Missouri (14-10, 5-8 Big 12) vs. No. 13/11 Iowa State (19-6, 7-6 Big 12)
*Wednesday - 7 p.m., Hearnes Center, Columbia, Mo.
*Broadcast - Radio - KWWC, 90.5 FM
*Missouri (14-10, 5-8 Big 12) vs. No. 3/3 Oklahoma (22-2, 12-1 Big 12)
*Saturday - 1:05 p.m., Hearnes Center, Columbia, Mo.
*Broadcast - Radio - KWWC, 90.5 FM, TV - Fox Sports Net
The first 2,500 fans will receive a Truman the Tiger growth poster at Wednesday's game. For Saturday's game, the first 1,000 fans will receive a Truman bobblehead doll.
Saturday's game will be shown nationally on Fox Sports Net. Kevin Eschenfelder is the play-by-play announcer while Debbie Antonelli provides analysis.
Ouch!: Evan Unrau, a sophomore forward, suffered a fractured ring finger on her right (shooting) hand against Colorado (Feb. 13). Unrau, the Tigers' leading rebounder, had surgery on Feb. 15 and MU head coach Cindy Stein hopes Unrau will be able to return before the end of the season. A native of Fort Collins, Colo., Unrau averages 12.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She has recorded six double-doubles this season.
Wednesday's Foe: Iowa State enters the game after seeing its five-game win streak snapped with a 64-63 loss at Oklahoma State on Sunday. The Cyclones have the Big 12's second- and third-leading scorers in Lindsey Wilson (20.0 ppg) and Angie Welle (19.7 ppg). Welle, who leads the nation in field goal percentage, averages a league-best 11.0 rebounds per game. Tracy Gahan, who scored 23 points in the first ISU/MU meeting this season, averages 15.2 points per contest. Head coach Bill Fennelly is 157-56 in seven seasons at Iowa State. In 13 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Fennelly has a 323-109 record.
MU-Iowa State Series: Iowa State has won eight-straight games in the series and 12 of the last 13 meetings. Missouri holds a 39-14 edge in the series and has won 19 of the 23 meetings in Columbia. Iowa State, which won for the first time in Columbia on Feb. 11, 1997 by a 71-54 decision, has won four of the last five meetings in Columbia. This game marks the ninth time Missouri has played a ranked Iowa State team and the Tigers are currently 0-8 against ranked Cyclone squads.
Last Meeting: (AP) Whatever it was that slowed Iowa State's offense in the first 20 minutes of its game with Missouri, the Cyclones found a cure at halftime. No. 16 Iowa State got big games from its big three of Angie Welle, Tracy Gahan and Lindsey Wilson and hit Missouri with a 51-point second half in beating the Tigers, 87-61, on Jan. 30, 2002, in Ames, Iowa. Natalie Bright made five of her first six shots on her way to 15 points while Evan Unrau scored 13 points and had a game-high nine rebounds. Unrau also had three steals. A box score of that game is in the left-hand column.
The Matchup: Iowa State has one of the Big 12's top offenses while the Tigers have one of the top defenses. Iowa State is shooting 48.9 percent from the floor and leads the league with 214 3-point field goals. The Cyclones are also one of the conference's top rebounding teams. Missouri also likes to shoot the 3-point field goal (ranking fourth in the Big 12) and ranks among the league's leaders in rebounds, ranking fifth in the league, particularly on the offensive end, ranking second in the Big 12.
Saturday's Foe: Oklahoma, which plays Texas Tuesday, leads the Big 12 Conference with a 12-1 record and is 22-2 overall. The Sooners are led by Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year nominee Stacey Dales. Dales averages 16.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. LaNeisha Caufield leads the team in scoring at 18.1 points per game and has a team-high 66 steals (2.75 spg). Caton Hill and Rosalind Ross also average in double digits, scoring a respective 13.3 and 11.2 points per game. Head coach Sherri Coale is 103-71 in six seasons at Oklahoma and the past two regular season conference titles.
The MU-Oklahoma Series: Missouri leads the series, 27-17. The Tigers are 13-5 in Columbia but Oklahoma won the last meeting, 76-71, on Jan. 29, 2000.
Last Meeting: (AP) - LaNeishea Caufield scored 20 of her 28 points in the second half as No. 10 Oklahoma capitalized on 27 turnovers and beat Missouri, 82-62 on Feb. 3, 2001. Stacey Dales added 11 points and nine assists for the Sooners while Caton Hill had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Tracy Franklin's 11 points led Missouri. A box score of that game is in the left-hand column.
The Matchup: Oklahoma possesses one of the nation's top defensive units, allowing only 61.7 points per game. Missouri has struggled lately on offense, averaging only 60.1 points per game in its last 10 outings.
Missouri's Last Time Out: Missouri suffered an 85-61 loss to Texas A&M on Feb. 16 at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. The Tigers, who scored a season-low 15 first-half points, saw Texas A&M open a 35-15 halftime lead. Missouri made only 7-of-28 field goals in the first half and committed 14 turnovers. MU was also cold from the free-throw line, making only one of eight attempts. The Aggies, on the other hand, sank their first two 3-point field goals of the game and finished the first half by shooting 50 percent (14-of-28). LaToya Rose had 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Kerensa Barr, who finished with a team-high 16 points, sank a career-best four 3-point field goals. Barr also had team-high honors with eight rebounds and eight assists. Natalie Bright had 11 points. Angie Carter had a career-high tying nine points after making two 3-point field goals. Texas A&M had five players score in double figures. Tammika Sims led the way with 14 points. Toccara Williams, one of the nation's leaders in steals and assists, had nine assists and five steals in the contest.
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 38 3-point field goals made and her 113 attempts rank third as well. Barr's 33 made 3-pointers rank sixth all-time at Missouri while her 98 3-point field goal attempts rank fifth all-time. Barr's free throw percentage mark of 90.5 percent would be the program's all-time best mark if the season would end before the Iowa State contest. In case you were or were not wondering, Barr needs 36 more made foul shots to crack the program's top 10 list for made free throws in a season.
Rebound Queen: By snaring nine rebounds against Colorado (2/13), Evan Unrau now has led the Tigers in rebounds 12 times. Unrau has collected 10 or more rebounds in seven games this season.
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 Kansas (2/9). The three blocked shots are a career best for Loftus.
Television Coverage: As a result of the 85-61 setback at Texas A&M on Feb. 16, MU suffered its first loss on TV this season. Missouri is now 5-1 this season on TV and its next appearance on TV will be Saturday's Oklahoma game on Fox Sports Net.
60,000 Points: Missouri has now scored 60,308 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).
In the starting lineup: Kerensa Barr has started 59 games and has made a team-high 56 consecutive starts in her career. Natalie Bright leads the Tigers with 65 all-time starts and Evan Unrau has made 53 starts.
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 77.9 points and 18.1 turnovers per game and shoot an impressive 50.7 percent from the field. By comparison, MU, when it loses, averages 56.6 points and 21.7 turnovers per game while shooting 36.3 percent from the field.
A Win Would ...: If Missouri defeats Iowa State, it would ...
*even this season's series with Iowa State
*push head coach Cindy Stein's record at MU to 68-47
*give Missouri 499 all-time victories
*be Missouri's 40th win in the MU/ISU series
*be Missouri's first win against a ranked Iowa State team
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 end of the floor, too. Of Fisher's 149 rebounds, 65 (43.6 percent) are offensive while of Unrau's team-high 187 rebounds, 78 (41.7 percent) are offensive end.
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). Missouri has snared at least 20 offensive rebounds three times. 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 has scored 378 points this season (16 points per game), topping her total of 368 points she scored during her freshman and sophomore seasons.
Career Year II: Natalie Bright has scored 276 points this season, more than she has scored in any other season during her Missouri career.
Forcing Turnovers: Missouri has forced opponents to commit 497 turnovers this season (average of 20.7). Opponents have committed 20 or more turnovers in 15 of Missouri's 24 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 191-of-239 foul shots (79.9 percent) while Julie Helm (1997-2000) ranks second at 79.7 percent. Barr's performance this season (if it ended prior to the Iowa State game) would set a school record. Barr's mark of 95-of-105 free throws for 90.5 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 seventh nationally in free throw percentage, according to the Feb. 11 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 90.5 percent of her shots (95x105).
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 97 games.
Tough At Home: The Tigers are an impressive 261-84 during their 27 seasons in the Hearnes Center. Missouri has won its last 18 non-conference home games.
MU is 9-3 at home this season.
Ranked teams have also found the going tough in the Hearnes Center as MU has defeated three ranked teams (out of six games) in the past two seasons.
Those wins games are:
*Jan. 6, 2001 Missouri 68, #12/17 Texas 52
*Feb. 28, 2001 Missouri 78, #17/21 Colorado 61
*Jan. 9, 2002 Missouri 82, #10/12 Texas Tech 71
Fans, Fans, Fans: The record-setting crowd of 10,321 against Kansas (2/9) has moved Missouri to 32nd 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. The Missouri/Kansas crowd is the nation's 46th-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? Missouri closes the regular season against No. 12/12 Kansas State on Feb. 27. The Big 12 Conference Tournament starts March 5.