Feb. 28, 2003
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| TIPOFF: 6:08 p.m. CST. | ||||
| ARENA: Hearnes Center (13,611). Opened in 1972. MU is 269-91 (.747) here alltime, including 28-26 in Big 12 Conference play. | ||||
| RADIO: Available over the Tiger Network [KFRU-AM 1400, flagship]. Sean Secrease, play-by-play/Jessica Jenkins, color. Also available on the Internet at www.mutigers.com. | ||||
| TV: Mizzou Sports Network [FOX Sports Midwest throughout most of the state of Missouri; Mediacom Ch. 28 in Columbia; Mediacom cable in Springfield; Metro Sports in Kansas City; KJPX in Joplin]. Chris Gervino, play-by-play; Gary Link, color; Steve Kurtenbach, producer. | ||||
| COACHES: | ||||
| Missouri: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 80-64 at MU (5th season), 144-89 overall (8th season).
Kansas: Marian Washington (West Chester '70), 550-345 at KU and overall (30th season). |
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TIGERS GO FOR SEASON SWEEP OVER BORDER WAR RIVALS
The Missouri women's basketball team plays its final weekend game of the regular season, welcoming its Border War rival Kansas for a 6 p.m. Saturday showdown that will be televised live over the Mizzou Sports Network.
? ? ? The Tigers will look to sweep the home-and-home series for the third straight year, and will be going for its school-record-tying seventh straight win over the Jayhawks. Mizzou took the first game of the year between the schools, 61-55, in Lawrence.
SECOND BORDER WAR BATTLE SET FOR SATURDAY
The Missouri and Kansas athletics departments have joined with the Midwest Ford Dealers in the presentation of the Border War Series. The two schools will battle for points all season long accumulating toward the goal of winning the Border War Cup.
? ? ? It features a scoring system that awards points to each school based on the results of head-to-head competition in 17 different sports. The school that has accumulated the most points at the end of the year will be awarded the Traveling Border War Cup at the Greater Kansas City Sports Commission Banquet each June.
? ? ? Missouri currently leads the series, 14.5-2.5; Saturday's game is worth 1.5 points to the winner; Missouri earned another 1.5 points from its win on Feb. 15 in Lawrence.
? ? ? Another 2.0 points are up for grabs in Lincoln, Neb., this weekend, as the men's and women's indoor track and field teams compete at the Big 12 Conference Championships.
ABOUT KANSAS...
Head Coach Marian Washington, in her 30th year pacing the Jayhawk sidelines, became just the 17th coach in NCAA women's history to record 550 wins on Feb. 19 at Nebraska. She has amassed a 550-343 record in her coaching career, which has been spent in its entirety in Lawrence.
? ? ? The Jayhawks enter Saturday's contest in a ninth-place tie with Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in the Big 12 standings. Kansas owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Aggies, yet OSU owns the same over KU.
? ? ? Kansas has been a streaky team all season long, as the Jayhawks have had just one winning or losing streak as short as one game this season - that came in the Nebraska win; KU is currently on a two-game losing skid.
? ? ? The Jayhawks are led by three underclassmen averaging in double-figure scoring. Freshman forward Crystal Kemp is averaging 11.0 points and 5.8 rebounds, sophomore guard Aquanita Burras is scoring 10.8 ppg, and freshman center Tamara Ransburg notches 10.7 ppg and a team-high 7.8 rebounds a contest.
? ? ? Sophomore guard Blair Waltz and Mizzou junior guard Tracy Lozier both attended Blue Valley North High School.
KU SERIES...
Kansas leads the battle between the schools, 32-29, although as was mentioned previously, the Tigers have swept the season series the last two seasons and have won six straight over their archrival.
? ? ? Mizzou leads the series in Columbia by a 17-7 margin, and has won three in a row against the Jayhawks at the Hearnes Center.
? ? ? In addition, a Tiger win on Saturday would not only sweep the season series for the third straight year, but also match the longest win streak against KU in school history.
LAST TIME OUT: OKLAHOMA 74, MIZZOU 69
Maria Villaroel tied her career high with 31 points, and the Oklahoma Sooners took advantage of a 36-8 disparity in free-throw attempts to register a 74-69 win over Missouri on Wednesday night at the Lloyd Noble Center.
BARR CLIMBING CAREER CHARTS
Senior guard Kerensa Barr, who is expected to make the 90th start of her career on Saturday, became the 22nd member of Missouri's 1,000-point club after her 15-point performance against Oklahoma State on Jan. 25. She moved past Cindy Kiser (1976-80) into 17th place on Mizzou's all-time scoring list (1,101 points). She has played in each of Missouri's 115 games over her four-year career.
? ? ? With her eight assists against Illinois on Dec. 21, Barr moved past Dee Dee Polk as Missouri's No. 2 all-time assist leader. She added five assists against No. 20 Texas on Jan. 11, making her the 10th player in Big 12 history to record 400 career assists. She is 15 away from breaking Amy Fordham's school record. With three games guaranteed to remain on the Tigers' schedule, Barr needs to average 5.0 assists per game to surpass Fordham's mark.
? ? ? Barr is already a member of MU's career top-5 lists in 3-point field goals made and attempted, as well as steals after passing Sandie Prophete (1986-89) with her 200th career pick Jan. 8 at Baylor. She passed Carla Yancey (1988-91) for second on the list on Feb. 15 at Kansas.
? ? ? Barr is just the fifth player in Big 12 history to record 400 assists and 200 steals in a career.
? ? ? Finally, Barr is currently percentage points ahead of Julie Helm as Mizzou's most accurate free-throw shooter in school history (80.06 percent). If she sinks 80 percent or more of her remaining free throws, Barr will finish as the record-holder.
UNRAU ... AND HOW!
That would likely be the reaction from Spanky, the chubby-cheeked member of the Little Rascals gang regarding the play of junior forward Evan Unrau. The honorable mention All-Big 12 member from 2001-02 has been racking up double-doubles left and right, yet it was her back-to-back season-high scoring totals - 23 points at Nebraska on Feb. 8, followed by 26 on Feb. 12 vs. Iowa State - that took center stage recently. Both performances became the highest single-game scoring outputs of any Tiger this season.
? ? ? Unrau posted her seventh double-double of the season - and third straight - after her 20-point, 10-rebound effort against Oklahoma State on Jan. 28. It followed performances of 11 points and 12 rebounds against Nebraska and 21 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State.
? ? ? Unrau's seven double-doubles are the fifth-highest total in the league, and her four double-doubles in conference play is just two off the league lead.
? ? ? Unrau has led the Tigers in scoring 16 times this season. Her totals of 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds both lead the team.
? ? ? She is ranked among the Big 12 leaders in five different categories: scoring (10th), rebounding (8th), field-goal percentage (14th, .481), offensive rebounds (4th, 3.12) and defensive rebounds (13th, 4.62).
ADD UNRAU - 1,000 POINTS?
With a solid stretch run, Unrau will join Barr as the most recent members of the 1,000-point club by the end of the season.
? ? ? Unrau is just 22 points from the plateau, which would make her the 23rd member of the group at Mizzou. With at least three games remaining, the honorable mention All-Big 12 member from a year ago needs to average just 7.3 points per game - less than half her season average - to reach the mark before the end of her junior year.
JAMES STRETCHES OUT
Junior forward Stretch James, who earned JUCO All-America honors at Tyler (Texas) JC before arriving in Columbia this fall, has adjusted well to the rigors of the Big 12, and it appears that she shines brightest under the TV lights.
? ? ? She recorded her second double-double of the season Feb. 15 at Kansas, hitting for 15 points and a Missouri career-high 13 rebounds. That came on the heels of her 14-11 double-double on Feb. 2 in the Tigers' upset of Colorado. Both games came in nationally televised tilts on FOX Sports Net.
? ? ? James has scored in double figures in eight of the last 11 games, and 12 overall this season. She recently had a streak of five straight such games.
? ? ? In two games against Kansas State - which was ranked fifth in the country in both meetings this season - James totalled seven blocks against the Wildcats.
? ? ? James tallied a Missouri career-high 18 points and added a season-best three assists in the game against Nebraska on Jan. 22; she added 15 points in the win over Oklahoma State the following Saturday, and had a team-high 16 at No. 8 Texas Tech on Jan. 28. Her double-figure streak started with a 10-point outing in the win at Iowa State on Jan. 19.
? ? ? In Big 12 Conference play, James is averaging 10.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, which are third and second, respectively, on the team. That follows her season totals (9.2 ppg / 5.2 rpg), which are also both third on the squad.
GLANCES STOLEN
Senior guard Kerensa Barr had seven steals for the second time in three games on Dec. 11 at Northern Iowa; she now has a team-high 62 on the year. She also had seven picks against McNeese State on Dec. 6.
? ? ? Barr's 2.48 steals-per-game average is the third-highest total in the Big 12 Conference.
? ? ? For the season, Barr is averaging 11.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Those totals rank her second, fourth, and first, respectively, on the team this year.
? ? ? Barr is ranked among the Big 12's leaders in seven different individual categories: scoring (19th), assists (5th, 5.00); free-throw percentage (9th, 82.3%); steals (3rd, 2.50); 3-point FG percentage (10th, 37.1%); 3-point FG per game (12th, 1.38); and assist-to-turnover ratio (12th, 1.3).
TIGERS HIGH ON LOZIER
Early in the season, some questioned the decision to start junior guard Tracy Lozier because of her perceived lack of offensive firepower. In addition to her defensive prowess, leadership, and steady, consistent play, Lozier found her shot in a big way on Dec. 11 at Northern Iowa, and has continued her offensive prowess since.
? ? ? Lozier was averaging under 5 points per game coming into the UNI game, yet she poured in a career-high 19 points in the Tigers' win, hitting six of her seven field-goal attempts and all five of her 3-point tries.
? ? ? Lozier has shown that that performance was no fluke, as she has averaged 16.5 points the last two games, and has scored in double figures 11 times overall this season. In Wednesday's game at Oklahoma, Lozier canned five 3-pointers for the second time this year.
? ? ? For the season, Lozier is fourth on the squad with a 9.2 points-per-game average. She also is second on the team with 66 assists (2.6 apg) and second with 39 steals (1.6 spg).
? ? ? Lozier is ranked among the Big 12 leaders in conference-only games in 3-point FG percentage (8th, 41.3%); 3-pointers made per game (2nd, 2.00) and assists per game (15th, 2.77).
THROW THIS NOTE AWAY
Coaches preach the value of making free throws, and this season, the Missouri coaching staff has set a goal for the team to make 80 percent of its free throws every day in practice and games.
? ? ? So far this season, the Tigers have accomplished that goal 11 times in games, and it may not be surprising to find out that Missouri is 8-3 when it makes 80 percent of its charity tosses. MU's losses at Baylor and against Texas in the first week of the Big 12 season, the Feb. 19 setback vs. Kansas State, and Wednesday's loss at Oklahoma - when the Sooners had 36 attempts to Mizzou's eight - are the Tigers' only losses in such a situation.
? ? ? For the season, the Tigers have shot 73.9 percent as a team from the line, which is the second-best mark in the Big 12.
? ? ? If the Tigers' free-throw accuracy holds for the season, it will break the previous school record of 71.7 percent set by the 1980-81 team.