April 19, 2007

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The honors keep coming in for members of Missouri's women's basketball signing class. This time it was St. Charles, Mo. forward Shakara Jones who was named the 2007 Miss Show-Me Basketball by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association at MU's Reynolds Alumni Center on Sunday.

Jones amassed 2,439 points, 849 rebounds and 282 blocked shots in her four-year career at Francis Howell Central HS. As a senior she averaged 23.8 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots while leading FHC to a 21-6 overall record. She scored at least 20 points in 22 games and had six games of 30 or more, including a career-high 37 against Troy on Jan. 23. She also added five double-doubles. Those numbers earned her Player of the Year honors from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

She becomes the sixth Miss Show-Me Basketball award winner to play for the Tigers out of high school, joining Terianne Wolford of Nixa in 2000, Kerensa Barr of West Plains in 1999, Andrea Siemer of Jackson in 1992, Rhonda Moore of Hazelwood East in 1988 and Lisa Sandbothe of Washington in 1987. Sandbothe's older sister, Lori, transferred to MU following two years at Moberly JC after she won the 1986 award.

Jones signed with Mizzou during the early period in November and chose the Tigers over Tennessee, Illinois and Saint Louis. Her father, Ron Jones, played at MU for Norm Stewart from 1980-84. Jones has already stated she wants to wear the same jersey number - 44 - that her father wore.