Dec. 15, 2005
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vs. Southern Illinois (4-3)
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005 - Columbia, Mo.
TIPOFF: 6:00 p.m. CST.
ARENA: Mizzou Arena (15,061). Opened in 2004. MU is 289-110 (.724) all-time at home.
RADIO: KFRU-AM 1400/KLIK-AM 1240 (David Lile, play-by-play/Gary Link, color). Also available online at mutigers.com.
TV: None over-the-air; online via Mizzou All-Access subscription at mutigers.com.
SERIES: Tied, 5-5. Mizzou has won the last two, including the last meeting by an 81-57 count on Dec. 9, 2000. MU is 59-27 all-time against the Missouri Valley Conference.
RANKINGS: Neither team is ranked.
COACHES:
Missouri: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 119-99 at MU (eighth season) and 184-124 overall (11th season).
Southern Illinois: Dana Eikenberg (Penn State '92), 7-27 at SIU (second season) and 45-101 overall (seventh season).
MIZZOU WOMEN BOOKEND "BASKETBALL SUNDAY" VS. SALUKIS
The Mizzou women's basketball team (7-2), riding a six-game winning streak, will wrap up a Sunday full of basketball at Mizzou Arena with a 6 p.m. tipoff against Southern Illinois (4-3). The current six-game streak matches the longest of Head Coach Cindy Stein's eight-year tenure at Mizzou.
"TOYS FOR TOTS" DRIVE SET UP FOR SUNDAY NIGHT
The University of Missouri Department of Athletics has once again partnered with the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation in sponsoring a toy drive this holiday season, and Mizzou fans will have the opportunity to participate this weekend at the Tiger women's basketball game against Southern Illinois.
For 90 minutes prior to Sunday's 6 p.m. tipoff against the Salukis, representatives from the Mizzou NROTC program and campus Marine recruiters will be collecting toys at the Mizzou Arena gates. Fans will be allowed to donate a new or slightly used toy and receive a coupon for one free admission to the game. All donations go to the Toys For Tots program.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
The Salukis, like the Tigers, have been off from competition since last weekend, when they broke a three-game losing streak with a 75-59 win over South Dakota State. Sunday's game will continue SIU's early-season schedule pattern of being on the road for every other game to date; Southern in 1-2 on the road so far this season.
Southern Illinois is led in scoring by 6-foot-1 junior forward Carlai Moore, who is averaging 16.4 points per game. Moore is one of three transfers - all among SIU's top three scorers - who joined second-year Head Coach Dana Eikenberg from UMKC; all three are in their first season at SIU.
Cindy Stein will see a familiar face across the scorer's table; she and Eikenberg worked together for two seasons at Illinois in the mid-1990's (1993-95).
LAST TIME OUT: MIZZOU 88, NICHOLLS STATE 34
Every Mizzou player posted a rebound, and for the fifth time in the last six games five Tigers scored in double figures, as Mizzou won its sixth straight Sunday in an 88-34 decision over Nicholls State. The winning streak ties the longest of Cindy Stein's eight-year tenure in Columbia.
A CAREER NIGHT FOR THE BLACK-AND-GOLD
Last Sunday's win over Nicholls State was about as complete a win as possible. Ten of MU's 14 players either tied or set a season or career-high mark; in all, 19 different individual career or season-high marks were set, and another 15 were tied. Among the notable achievements:
(NOT) TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF?
Mizzou did its best job of ball-handling, by far, in years against Nicholls State. The Tigers had 26 assists, which ties the third-highest total in the last six years.
To counter that, Mizzou had a ridiculously low six turnovers against the Lady Colonels. That's the fewest in a single game in at least the last six years; in fact, the Tigers have had single-digit turnovers just four previous times in that span.
TIGERS STREAKING IN A GOOD WAY
As mentioned earlier, Mizzou is on a six-game wining streak, which ties the longest span of Cindy Stein's eight years in Columbia.
You have to go back to the 1999-2000 season to find the last winning streak that is longer; Mizzou won the last nine games of the non-conference schedule before starting Big 12 play. Not to look ahead, but the Tigers could match that feat with wins on Sunday, and later against Alabama State and Western Michigan before the Big 12 Conference schedule opens on Jan. 4 against defending NCAA National Champion Baylor.
BOND... LaToya Bond!
This may be the biggest case of "burying the lede" in these notes in my four years here, but senior guard LaToya Bond has done a heck of a job quarterbacking the Tigers this season.
Bond has scored in double figures in each of Mizzou's nine game this season. She was held to a season-low 11 points on Sunday against Nicholls State, but that wasn't the big news to come out of the three-year starter's stat sheet. Bond also had a season-high seven rebounds, and a near-career-high eight assists, to come thisclose to a triple-double.
Bond already has two tournament MVP awards under her belt this season, and is Mizzou's leading scorer at 16.4 points per game. She has a Big 12 Conference-leading 3.22 steals per game, and is among the Big 12 leaders in seven different categories, including - at 5-foot-10 - blocks!
LIKE A GOOD TEAM, MIZZOU IS THERE
With apologies to Tiger Classic sponsor State Farm and Barry Manilow, composer of the insurance company's "Like a Good Neighbor" jingle, the Tigers were indeed a good team Dec. 2-3 in picking up their 19th Tiger Classic title in the 28 years of the winter tournament.
Senior guard LaToya Bond was named tournament MVP for the second straight week, and senior center Christelle N'Garsanet and junior forward Carlynn Savant earned spots on the all-tournament team. It is the third all-tourney nod of N'Garsanet's career, while Savant picked up her second. Bond earned her fourth all-tournament team honor, including her second this season.
CHRISTELLE HAS A GOOD REASON TO MISS PRACTICE...
Senior center Christelle N'Garsanet did not start Mizzou's exhibition game vs. Missouri Southern on Nov. 5 because she missed a pair of practices in the week leading up to the game. Often, that is cause for concern, yet N'Garsanet's absences were certainly excused, and even welcomed: The accounting major from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, was in St. Louis for a job interview with a Big Four accounting firm.
Mizzou's most-improved player a year ago, N'Garsanet has been the Tigers' presense in the paint for the last two seasons. She is currently MU's second-leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 12.7 points and 7.2 boards a game. She also is tied for the team lead in blocks (13).
SAVANT GOES OFF FOR CAREER GAME; FIRST ALL-TOURNEY SPOT
Junior forward Carlynn Savant had a career-high 19 points last Saturday night vs. Murray State in the State Farm Tiger Classic title match. She was 6-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 on 3-pointers, and made all five of her free throws to top her previous best of 16 points set the previous Tuesday vs. Northwestern. For her efforts, she was named to the all-tournament team.
For the season, Savant is third on the squad in both scoring (10.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg).
HOME SWEET HOME
The Tigers played five of their first six games on the road, and have fared relatively well away from Mizzou Arena this season, winning both of their neutral-site games, and going 1-2 on the road. They have started to regain a measure of dominance at home, where the Tigers were 5-8 in the inaugural season at Mizzou Arena.
This weekend's game is part of a school record-tying eight-game homestand that will extend into the second week of January; Mizzou does not hit the road again until a January 11 contest at Nebraska. The other time the Tigers had such a long homestand came in the 1991-92 season; Mizzou was 7-1 in that stretch - the loss came to Iowa in the championship of the Mid-America Classic (now the State Farm Tiger Classic) - and finished the season 16-12.
MIZZOU LIVING AND DYING OUTSIDE, TURNING UP THE HEAT ON "D"
Tiger opponents are shooting at a dismal 23.4-percent clip (29-for-124) through nine games this season; Mizzou is defending the 3-point shot better than any other Big 12 team.
Conversely, the Tigers are second in the league in 3-point shooting themselves, averaging 36.2 percent per game.
After holding Nicholls State to a paltry 34 points, Mizzou is now holding opponents to an average of 57.0 points per game; that's also second in the league only to Kansas State's 56.6 ppg.
Cindy Stein SHOW EACH THURSDAY
The Cindy Stein Show is broadcast live from Spanky's SportsZone in the Holiday Inn Executive Center each Thursday at 6 p.m. Hosted by veteran play-by-play man and KFRU-AM morning host David Lile, the weekly show reviews the previous week's games, looks forward to the coming opposition and offers insight into the happenings of Mizzou women's basketball.