Nov. 20, 2003
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| TIPOFF: 4:00 p.m. CST. | ||||
| ARENA: Robertson Field House (7,003). Opened in 1949. MU is 13-7 (.650) in non-conference road games under Cindy Stein. | ||||
| RADIO: KFRU-AM 1400 (David Lile, play-by-play/Gary Link, color). Also available on the Internet at www.mutigers.com. | ||||
| TV: None. | ||||
| COACHES: | ||||
| Missouri: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 84-66 at MU (sixth season), 149-91 overall (ninth season) and 3-0 against Bradley.
Bradley: Paula Buscher (SMS '86), 39-44 at BU (fourth season), 82-82 overall (seventh season) and 0-3 against Mizzou. * - Bradley plays Friday night at Saint Louis. |
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MIZZOU OPENS 30TH SEASON, GOES FOR MILESTONE WIN IN STEIN'S HOMETOWN
The Missouri women's basketball team opens its 30th season of competition on Sunday with a 4 p.m. tipoff against an opponent who's been quite familiar recently. This is the fourth meeting between Bradley and Missouri in the past six years, and Sunday's game will mark the third time the series has opened Mizzou's season.
The game has several notable storylines. For starters, Head Coach Cindy Stein again makes a homecoming with this foray back to Central Illinois; the Richwoods High School grad played two years at Illinois Central College under legendary mentor Lorene Ramsey before graduating from Illinois, and later served as an assistant coach at Bradley in the late 1980's and early '90's.
In addition, Stein is looking for career win number 150 Sunday afternoon against BU. She enters 2003-04 with a career record of 149-91 (.621) in eight seasons as a head coach.
TIGERS LOOK TO START ON RIGHT FOOT
Mizzou has had abundant success in home openers over the last 15 years or so, and has an overall record of 22-7 (.759) in its first game of a season. The Tigers have won seven straight lidlifters, and 14 of their last 15, including wins against Bradley to start the 1998 and 1999 seasons. MU's last season-opening loss came to Creighton in 1995.
UNRAU NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN
Senior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) has been selected to Street & Smith's preseason women's All-America team, the magazine announced in its preseason basketball issue.
Unrau is one of 50 players listed by the venerable publication, and one of 30 players given Preseason Honorable Mention All-America status by the magazine. Ten others were each named to the "Terrific 10" and High Honorable Mention lists.
Last year, Unrau became Mizzou's second First Team All-Big 12 Conference selection in the seven-year history of the conference. She led the Tigers in both scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg) in leading Mizzou to postseason play for the fourth straight year.
TIGERS ADD McFARLAND TO ROSTER
Forward/center Kacey McFarland, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Neosho, Mo., has been added to the women's basketball roster, Head Coach Cindy Stein announced Nov. 16 before Mizzou's game against Sparta Praha. The move now boosts the squad's size to 13 players - five seniors, one junior, three sophomores, and four freshmen.
2003-04 IS HOOPS SWAN SONG FOR HEARNES
The University of Missouri broke ground on a new basketball arena - one that will be the finest on-campus facility in the nation when completed - on Sept. 21, 2002. The yet-to-be-named facility, which will seat just over 15,000 fans, is slated to open next fall, meaning this season will be the final one for the men's and women's basketball teams at the Hearnes Center. The women's basketball team sports an all-time record of 271-90 (.717) in the friendly confines.
Built in 1972, the Hearnes Center will continue to be utilized by MU's Olympic-sport programs such as volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, and track and field.
A webcam of the arena construction site has been installed on top of the Hearnes Center, and it is providing live still images to the Missouri athletics website 24 hours a day. The webcam is located at ath.missouri.edu/arena, and it can also be accessed from the front page of www.MUTigers.com.
Slated to cost $75 million, the new arena project was jump-started by a generous $25 million donation by the Laurie family of Columbia. The State of Missouri will contribute $35 million in bond appropriations, while the remaining $15 million will be raised through athletic fundraising efforts.
LAST TIME OUT: MU 86, SPARTA PRAHA 52 (ex.)
Stretch James and Evan Unrau combined for 43 points, and the Tigers held Sparta Praha to just two field goals in the final 11 minutes en route to a 86-52 win in their exhibition finale Sunday afternoon at the Hearnes Center.
Sparta Praha got on the board first, taking a 2-0 lead when Zuzana Melicharova hit a jumper from the top of the key. Sparked by James' play in the paint, the Tigers opened up an 11-6 lead on the visitors from the Czech Republic.
After a Jana Novakova jumper brought Sparta Praha to within 11-8 with 14 minutes, 35 seconds left, the Tigers rolled off a 22-6 run over the next 10:43 to take a 33-14 advantage. After that streak was broken by a pair of Lucie Lisakova free throws, the Tigers went on another 8-2 run to make it 41-18 with 1:28 to play.
Mizzou held Sparta to just 10 field goals - and no 3-pointers - in the opening 20 minutes, limiting the Czech team to just 38.5 percent shooting in the first half, in taking a 43-22 lead into the locker room. In addition, the Tigers' suffocating defense forced 16 first-half turnovers; on the offensive end, MU used an 8-to-5 assist-to-turnover ratio to remain in control.
Unrau had 15 of her points at the break on 7-of-12 shooting, and James scored 10 first-half points to go with seven rebounds after going 5-of-9 from the field.
Sparta Praha played solidly to start the second half, going on an 18-8 run over the first 8:43 of the final frame to pull within 11 (51-40). The Tigers took over from that point, holding Sparta without a field goal for a span of 9:29. Mizzou went on a 29-5 run in the meantime to boost the lead to 80-45 with less than 2 minutes left.
James tallied 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead all participants in both categories. LaToya Bond joined James and Unrau (21 points, eight rebounds) as the only Tigers to score in double figures, recording 12 points. Bond also led all participants in assists and steals, with four and five, respectively.
As a team, the Tigers shot 46.6 percent from the floor in the contest, and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Mizzou forced 32 Sparta Praha turnovers, including 17 steals, and held their opponent to only 10 percent (1 for 10) shooting from 3-point distance.
"I thought our core people really stepped up when they were putting their charge on," said Head Coach Cindy Stein. "I thought it taught our young people a lesson. They can't just come in and take it easy."
TIGERS POLLED SEVENTH BY COACHES, MEDIA
Mizzou was picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 Conference this season in separate votes by the league's head coaches and media members.
In the coaches' poll, the Tigers received 55 votes, two more than eighth-place Iowa State. Defending champion Texas, which advanced to the 2003 NCAA Women's Final Four, received 10 of 11 possible first-place votes (coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team) and 120 overall points to pace the field.
In addition, Evan Unrau received votes among the coaches' picks for the preseason All-Big 12 team.
With the exception of flip-flopping Texas A&M and Nebraska for 11th and 12th place, the media poll was exactly the same as the coaches' poll. In that, MU received 103 votes, six more than eighth-place Iowa State. Texas received 17 of the 18 first-place votes and 215 points to pace the field.
Picked to finish eighth last year by the coaches and seventh by the media, Mizzou finished 9-7 in the league and tied for fifth to match the Tigers' highest-ever placing in the seven-year history of the Big 12 Conference. MU was 17-14 overall and reached the quarterfinal round of the WNIT.
The 2003-04 squad returns four starters and eight letterwinners, including five seniors, and welcomes a talented recruiting class involving four newcomers.
THREE PREP STANDOUTS SIGN WITH MIZZOU
A trio of Midwest prep standouts have signed National Letters of Intent to enroll at the University of Missouri and play basketball, head coach Cindy Stein announced on Nov. 12. The three will be the first recruits to play their entire careers in Mizzou's new basketball arena, which is slated to open next fall.
Brittany Mannings, a 6-foot-4 center from Duchesne HS in St. Louis; Kassie Drew, a 5-foot-9 guard from Anna-Jonesboro (Ill.) High, and Crystal Howard, a 5-foot-9 guard from Omaha (Neb.) Central High School will join Stein and the Tigers for the 2004-05 season.
"I am very pleased with these three young ladies," Stein said. "Not only are they gifted players, but they are also tremendous people. They all come from great families and have a genuine love and passion for the game."
Mannings is ranked as the No. 25 center in the country in the All-Star Girls Report's Top 100. She has twice earned All-America Honorable Mention plaudits from Street & Smith's, and was a an all-state second-team pick in 2002. Mannings was a third-team St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro selection last year after averaging 16.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.7 blocks a game. She helped lead the Pioneers to the Missouri Class 4 championship in March.
"Brittany gives us something that we really need, and that is a dominant inside presence," Stein commented. "This gives us a true center. Her ability to alter shots and her willingness and determination to do whatever it takes are so valuable to a team's success. I have been so impressed with her all-around improvement every year, especially this summer. We are very excited to have her as part of the Mizzou family."
Drew comes with numerous credentials entering her senior season. She already has scored 2,096 points in her three-year career, which is currently tied for 55th in Illinois State High School Association (IHSA) history. She's also 10th on the all-time 3-pointer list with 259 heading into this year, and needs just 36 to move into second place. She tied a state record by sinking 11 3-pointers in a game last December on her way to a career-high 55-point outing. She is ranked as ASGR's No. 35 point guard in the country. Drew was a consensus first-team Class A all-state pick last season, and as a sophomore was named first-team all-state by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.
"Kassie has the ability to play the point or shooting guard. She is a tremendous shooter with excellent range," Stein says. "Her ball-handling and passing skills are very sound and her court sense is even better. Kassie has been dominating at our camps the last few years and we are thrilled that she chose Mizzou."
Howard was a member of the all-class all-state team as a sophomore in 2002, and was honorable mention all-state as a freshman. She has scored in double figures in each of her three seasons, averaging 14 points as a freshman, 16.2 as a sophomore and 17.5 as a junior. Like Mannings and Drew, Howard also earned a Street & Smith's Honorable Mention All-America nod last year.
"Crystal is an extremely exciting player to watch. Her talent and athleticism gives her the versatility to play any of the three guard spots. She is a slasher and can shoot the three. She makes everyone around her better, and she will be a great addition to our team."
The signing of the trio of high-school standouts concludes Mizzou's recruiting efforts for the fall signing period. The women's basketball program will look to sign two more players during the spring period - April 14-May 19, 2004.
TIGERS ON THE AIR
KFRU (1400 AM) once again will broadcast every Missouri women's basketball game. David Lile enters his 11th season as the voice of MU women's basketball. Lile will again be joined by former Mizzou men's basketball player Gary Link and, on occasion, with former Tiger point guard Kerensa Barr.
KFRU is the Columbia affiliate of the Tiger Network, one of the nation's largest collegiate sports radio networks. It is also the on-air home of Mizzou football and men's basketball.
THE CINDY STEIN SHOW
Missouri Tiger fans who wish to speak with MU Women's Basketball Coach Cindy Stein can do so each Monday night through the facilities of the Tiger Network.
"The Cindy Stein Show" originiates each Monday evening from 7-8 p.m. at Harpo's in downtown Columbia. Stein spends most of the hour fielding telephone calls from interested fans. Tiger players often appear as guests, as do coaches of MU opponents and others inside college athletics.
"The Cindy Stein Show" is hosted by David Lile, the voice of Missouri Women's Baskeball.
HEAD COACH CINDY STEIN
Recognized as one of the nation's top young women's basketball coaches, Cindy Stein is just one win away from recording her 150th career victory. She reached her last milestone against Northern Iowa on Dec. 9, 2001, when the Tigers gave Stein the 125th win of her career. Entering the 2003-04 season, Stein has a 84-66 mark in five seasons at MU and is 149-91 after eight years overall as a collegiate head coach.
Her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed by the national basketball community, as this summer Stein served her country as an assistant coach with USA Basketball at the World University Games. She also was able to mentor one of her standout players, as senior forward Evan Unrau was a member of the squad that was comprised of Big 12 Conference all-stars. Unrau joins another Stein recruit, WNBA veteran Amanda Lassiter, as All-Big 12 First Team recipients since the league's formation seven years ago.
The season prior to Stein's arrival at MU, the Tigers posted an 11-16 record, yet the coach has turned the program around by guiding it to four straight postseason berths, including the 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
In guiding the Tigers through the rigors of the Big 12 Conference, recognized as one of the toughest in the country, Stein has now done twice what had not been done since 1983: finish above .500 in league play. Those two times were the Sweet Sixteen season of 2001, and last year, when the Tigers finished tied for fifth in the Big 12 with their 9-7 mark.
In addition to that accomplishment, the 2002-03 season was also noteworthy when Mizzou qualified for postseason play for the fourth straight time - the school's longest stretch in nearly 20 years - by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). That was the deepest a Tiger squad has ever advanced in a national postseason tournament, and a one-point loss at Colorado State in the quarterfinals was all that separated Mizzou from reaching that tournament's final four teams.
In addition to her coaching exploits, Stein was a talented player in college. A junior-college All-American, she led Illinois Central College to two appearances at the NJCAA National Tournament, then helped the University of Illinois make the 1982 NCAA Tournament Field. Nearly 20 years later, Stein still holds two of the top four single-season assist totals in Illini history. She graduated from Illinois in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in physical education.
Stein's coaching debut came as a graduate assistant at Central Michigan University from 1984-86. She earned a master's degree in physical education with an emphasis in athletic administration from CMU. She also worked as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) from 1986-87 and at Cincinnati from 1987-88. She then served as an assistant coach at Bradley for five years to Lisa Boyer, who was head coach of the ABL's Philadelphia Rage and is a former assistant with the WNBA's Cleveland Rockers. After Bradley came a stint as the recruiting coordinator at her alma mater, Illinois; Stein also served as an assistant coach with the Illini from 1993-95 before taking the head coaching appointment at Emporia State from 1996-97.
Stein, who was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in March of 2002, was named the 2001 Coach of the Year by the Columbia chapter of the Women's Intersport Network.
A member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, Stein is also active nationally as a member of the WBCA Kodak All-America Selection Committee. In past years, she has served in various committee positions with the NCAA Rules Committee, the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, and the Women's Network Steering Committee.