Nov. 24, 2004
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at the Airport University Inn Thanksgiving Tournament
Friday-Saturday, November 26-27, 2004 - Albuquerque, N.M.
TIPOFF: 8 p.m. MST on Friday vs. host New Mexico; 6 p.m. on Saturday vs. Gonzaga or Providence
ARENA: University Arena - "The Pit" (18,018). Opened in 1966. Missouri is 164-183 (.473) on the road and 59-27 (.686) in non-conference games under Cindy Stein.
RADIO: KFRU-AM 1400 (David Lile, play-by-play/Kerensa Barr, color). Also available on the Internet at www.mutigers.com.
TV: None.
SERIES: New Mexico - Mizzou leads, 2-0 (last meeting: MU won, 102-57, in Plainview, Texas, on 11/25/82); Gonzaga - First Meeting; Providence - First Meeting.
RANKINGS: All four teams are unranked; New Mexico is receiving votes in both the AP and coaches' polls.
TIGERS TO EAT TURKEY IN 'QUERQUE
We're very, very sorry for the headline, but a little holiday latitude is in order as the University of Missouri women's basketball team heads southwest to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Airport University Inn Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Tigers leave Wednesday from St. Louis, then after a Thanksgiving Day of practice, a team meal, and maybe even a sneak peek of the Bears-Cowboys game, they begin play Friday night at 8 p.m. MST against host New Mexico. MU then faces either Gonzaga or Providence Saturday night when the consolation and championship games are contested.
Mizzou enters the tournament 1-1 after finishing second at the KCRG TV-9 Hawkeye Classic in Iowa. Junior G LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) was named to the all-tournament team after pouring in a career-high 25 points vs. Northern Illinois last Friday.
FOR YOU FRIDAY-NIGHT JUNKIES
A final from Friday night's game probably won't make the 10 o'clock news in Columbia, since tipoff is at 9 p.m. CST, but if you sports directors would like to get score updates as you go on the set, the press row number at The Pit is (505) 925-5988.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO
The Lobos, under 10th-year Head Coach Don Flanagan, are 2-0 - with both wins coming on the road - following a 60-56 squeaker at Oklahoma State on Tuesday. New Mexico opened the season with a 57-44 win at New Mexico State.
Katie Montg0mery is UNM's leading scorer at 11.5 points per game. Lindsey Arndt is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game.
SCOUTING GONZAGA
The Bulldogs cruised to an 87-41 season-opening win at home against Utah Valley State, a provisional Division I member. Five GU players scored in double figures, led by 14 points from guard Raeanna Jewell.
Gonzaga is the preseason favorite to win the West Coast Conference under Head Coach Kelly Graves - a 1988 UNM alum - and returns all five starters from an 18-12 squad that advanced to the WNIT.
SCOUTING PROVIDENCE
The Friars' New Mexico connection comes in the form of sophomore forward Shauna Snyder, who hails from Albuquerque. She is tied for the team scoring lead after two games, averaging 11.0 points per game. Providence, under third-year Head Coach Susan Yow, is averaging just 43 points in its two losses to Fordham and Holy Cross, and has committed 47 turnovers in the two games.
LAST TIME OUT: IOWA 75, MISSOURI 54
Crystal Smith led all scorers with 26 points to lead host Iowa to a 75-54 win over Missouri in the championship game of the KCRG TV-9 Hawkeye Challenge.
LaToya Bond had 14 points for the Tigers (1-1), while Christelle N'Garsanet added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Bond was named to the All-Tournament Team for averaging 19.5 points per game over the course of the weekend.
BOND NAMED TO HAWKEYE CHALLENGE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Junior guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) was named as one of five members of the KCRG TV-9 Hawkeye Challenge All-Tournament Team. In two games in Iowa, Bond was 12-of-26 from the field, and 14-of-18 from the free-throw line. She hit for a career-high 25 points in the Tigers' win against Northern Illinois last Friday, and totaled 10 steals in the two games.
NINE'S FINE FOR HOWARD
In each of Missouri's first two games, freshman G Crystal Howard (Omaha, Neb. / Central HS) scored nine points to come into the weekend as the Tigers' second-leading scorer.
Howard sank four of her five shots in Friday's win vs. Northern Illinois, then hit half of her six shots at Iowa on Saturday. Those totals include a combined 3-0f-4 accuracy from behind the 3-point arc.
N'GARSANET ASSERTING HERSELF INSIDE
After averaging just 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds last season, junior C Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) gave Tiger fans a glimpse that things might be different for the junior this year. N'Garsanet went off for 20 points and 14 rebounds in Mizzou's 19-point exhibition win over Central Missouri State. To date in MU's two official games, she is averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. In addition, she has a Big 12 Conference-leading eight blocks.
N'Garsanet started just one game last year, but improved immensely in the off-season to secure a starting role this season.
BLOCK PARTY CONTINUES IN 2004-05
The Missouri women, who finished fifth in the nation in blocked shots last season with a school-record 191, are on pace to exceed that total through two games this season. The Tigers lead the Big 12 Conference with an average of 7.5 blocks per game. Mizzou had 11 blocks Friday afternoon vs. Northern Illinois, the most since blocking 12 at Bradley in last year's season-opener.
MU WOMEN PICKED EIGHTH BY MEDIA, COACHES
Mizzou has been picked to finish eighth by regional media and the Big 12's coaches, in separate polling conducted prior to the season.
The league's media had a tough time separating the sixth through eighth spots, as Iowa State and Colorado each had just five more polling points than the Tigers' 78.
The Tigers amassed 45 points from the 11 other coaches - mentors were not allowed to vote for their own teams - in that poll, 14 fewer than Colorado. That's not necessarily bad news for the Tigers, as the coaches' poll has not traditionally been a good prognostication of the MU's success. The Tigers have finished at or above their selected position in each of the last four years. For the last two seasons, Mizzou was picked to finish seventh; the Tigers finished fifth in 2003, and seventh last year. In 2002, the coaches tabbed the Tigers 10th before MU finished ninth, and in 2001 the coaches selected Mizzou eighth, one spot lower than the Tigers actually finished.
STRONG SCHEDULE WILL HELP IN THE END
Last year's Tigers owe much of their at-large NCAA Tournament berth to a strong RPI rating, and more specifically, a strong schedule. The same can be said this year, as the Tigers enter 2004-05 with the 22nd-toughest slate out of 328 indexed teams, according to the WBCA/Summerville RPI.
Six Mizzou opponents - Stanford, along with Big 12 foes Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Oklahoma - are ranked in both major polls this week, while another four schools - Eastern Michigan, Iowa State, New Mexico and SMS - are receiving votes.
A total of 15 schools that reached postseason play last year are on this year's schedule. In all, the Tigers could end up playing as many as 19 of their 28 regular-season games against postseason squads.
TIGERS SIGN HOLLINS TO NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT
Texas standout guard Alyssa Hollins (Mesquite, Texas / John Horn HS) has signed a National Letter of Intent to enroll at the University of Missouri and play basketball for the Tigers, Head Coach Cindy Stein announced Nov. 10.
The 6-foot Hollins was the Texas District 12-5A Co-Offensive Most Valuable Player as a junior last year at Mesquite High School. She also was named to the Dallas Morning News' All-Area Third Team, and earned second-team all-region honors from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches. Last season, she averaged 14.1 points and 5.1 rebounds while shooting 48 percent from the field.
"The thing I like most about Alyssa is that she's one of the best players in the state of Texas," Stein said. "She's a versatile guard who can shoot the three and slash, and she's extremely competitive. She's just another really good, quality guard that can help us."
As a sophomore in 2002-03, Hollins made the District 12-5A First Team and also made the TABC all-region second team. She burst onto the scene as a freshman at Mesquite when she was named the Dallas Morning News' All-Area Newcomer of the Year. She earned the same honor in District 10-5A.
Hollins' signing wraps up the Tigers recruiting for the fall signing period.