Kevin Eschenfelder and Debbie Antonelli will call the action for FSN on Saturday from Mizzou Arena.Kevin Eschenfelder and Debbie Antonelli will call the action for FSN on Saturday from Mizzou Arena.
Women's Basketball

Women to 'Pack the Zou' in National-TV Tilt vs. Texas Tech

Jan. 26, 2006

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Game #19: Mizzou (14-4, 4-2)
vs. Texas Tech (9-8, 4-2)
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 - Columbia, Mo.

TIPOFF: 1:06 p.m. CST.
ARENA: Mizzou Arena (15,061). Opened in 2004. MU is 295-110 (.728) all-time at home, including 15-8 (.652) at Mizzou Arena.
RADIO: KWWC-FM 90.5 (David Lile, play-by-play/Tonya Mirts, color).
TV: Fox Sports Net national cablecast (check p. 3 for affiliate listings). Kevin Eschenfelder, play-by-play / Debbie Antonelli, color / Wave Robinson, producer.
ONLINE: Live audio available via Yahoo! subscription; live video available via Mizzou All-Access subscription; both at mutigers.com.
RANKINGS: Mizzou is receiving votes in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls; Texas Tech is receiving votes in the AP poll.
SERIES: Texas Tech leads, 9-2. The series is tied, 2-2, in Columbia. Saturday's game will be the first in the series in which the Lady Raiders are unranked.
COACHES:
      MIZZOU: Cindy Stein (Illinois '84), 126-101 at MU (eighth season) and 191-126 overall (11th season).
      TEXAS TECH: Marsha Sharp (Wayland Baptist '74), 566-183 at Texas Tech and overall (25th season).
SPECIAL PROMOTIONS - "PACK THE ZOU":

  • Special $1 Ticket Promotion: All tickets to Saturday's game are on sale for just $1. In addition, vouchers good for free admission are available at the Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau, Hoss' Market & Deli, and First National Bank.
  • Game Sponsor: Mediacom
  • Halftime Performance from the Golden Girls
  • Post-Game Autograph Session with Christelle N'Garsanet

    WOMEN TO "PACK THE ZOU" IN NATIONAL-TV TILT WITH TEXAS TECH
          The Mizzou women's basketball team (14-4, 4-2 Big 12) returns home before a national TV audience as it prepares to "Pack the Zou" on Saturday against Texas Tech. Tickets are on sale for just $1 as the Tigers go for their 11th straight home win.

    HOME SWEET HOME
          Part of the Tigers' about-face this season (see note below) starts with their success at home. Mizzou is a perfect 10-0 in the friendly confines of Mizzou Arena this season, one year removed from a 5-8 mark at home.
          The Tigers capped a school-record-tying eight-game homestand a perfect 8-0 to begin Big 12 play. Included in that homestand was a 64-61 win over then-No. 4 Baylor to end the defending NCAA National Champions' 30-game win streak. Coupled with the Nov. 22 win vs. Northwestern, and last Wednesday's win over Colorado, Mizzou is currently 10-0 at Mizzou Arena this season.
          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 posting their only losses this season on the road (2-4 overall).

    TIGERS EXCEED LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL
          Of all the measures of the success of this year's team, the most compelling might be this: With the win vs. Colorado last Wednesday, Mizzou bumped its win total to 14 this season; the Tigers had 11 wins all of last year (11-18). In addition, the fourth Big 12 win of the season matched last year's entire season total (4-12).

    LAST TIME OUT: TEXAS A&M 72, MIZZOU 52
          Morenike Atunrase had a game-high 15 points, and Erica Roy added a season-high 13 points and a career-high seven rebounds, to lead Texas A&M to a 72-52 win over Missouri in Big 12 Conference action Saturday evening at Reed Arena.

    TIGERS STREAKING (IN A GOOD WAY!)
          As mentioned earlier, Mizzou has won 13 of its last 15 games. Mizzou's 14-4 start is the second-best in school history through 18 games; it trails only the 15-3 start by four other teams, most recently the 1984-85 Tigers.

    JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
          With its loss at Texas on Jan. 14, Mizzou dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25. That came one week after the Tigers appeared in the writers' poll (at No. 24) for the first time since the 1984-85 season. The Tigers are receiving votes this week in the No. 27 spot.
          Close followers of the Tigers vividly recally the 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen squad and might wonder why that team wasn't ranked. It had more to do with the relative strength of the Big 12 - Mizzou was fifth in the league that year - and the fact that the final AP poll is released at the conclusion of the regular season, before the Tigers' deep run in the NCAA Tournament occurred. Mizzou was ranked 19th in the final coaches' poll of 2001; the Tigers are also currently getting votes in that poll.

    SCOUTING TEXAS TECH
          Mizzou's final regular-season matchup against a team from the state of Texas brings in a Marsha Sharp-coached team that is over .500 for the first time this season after winning four of its last five games. On Wednesday, the Lady Raiders picked up their first road win (in six tries) with a 61-51 victory at Oklahoma State. In addition, Tech's three home wins have come by a total of five points against Texas A&M, Baylor and Nebraska.

    SERIES VS. THE LADY RAIDERS
          Texas Tech leads the all-time series by a 9-2 margin, yet the series is tied at 2-2. Saturday's game will be the first in which the Tigers play an unranked Lady Raider squad. All but two of the games have been played in regular-season Big 12 Conference matchups; the first-ever meeting took place in Lubbock in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament, after the Tigers had run through the top three seeds of 1994 Big Eight Tournament to win the title as the seventh seed. The other was in Kansas City in the first round of the 2002 Big 12 Tournament.