Scouting the Fighting Illini
Illinois is 7-3 under first-year Head Coach Jolette Law, with wins over Eastern Illinois ,UW-Milwaukee, Southern Illinois, South Carolina, Providence, Illinois-Chicago and Chicago State. The Fighting Illini held their own against Oklahoma, only losing 77-67, and also suffered losses to UAB and North Carolina State.

Two-time Big Ten Player of the Week Jenna Smith averages a double-double for the fighting Illini with impressive numbers of 19.9 ppg. and 10.1 rpg. The forward/center also shoots an amazing 63 percent from the floor and 85 percent from the free throw line.

Smith is joined in double-figures by senior forward Danyel Crutcher, who has averages of 11.1 ppg. and 5.8 rpg. Redshirt sophomore Lacey Simpson contributes 3.7 apg. and 3.4 spg. as well.

Jones' jumper gives Mizzou dramatic win
Freshman Shakara Jones grabbed an offensive rebound and made a put back with 6.1 seconds remaining in overtime to give Missouri a 75-73 overtime victory over UMKC on Dec. 15. Mizzou, which scored the first 18 points of the game, led by as many as 21 early in the second half before UMKC tied the game after Tarah Cullen made three free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.

Mizzou had four players in double figures for the first time this season, led by junior Alyssa Hollins' 21. Sophomore Jessra Johnson posted 20, Jones notched her third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Amanda Hanneman added 10 points.

Tigers need to finish
Missouri has held commanding leads in the previous two games but has failed to put other teams away. Mizzou lead 44-26 with 18:50 left in its game with Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 8 and eventually lost the game 84-81 in overtime.

Exactly one week later, the Tigers had a commanding 45-24 advantage of UMKC with 18:20 remaining but a Kangaroo made three free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. Missouri responded in OT and eventually pulled out a 75-73 victory.

The Tigers were outscored in the second half by 32 points (97-65) combined in those two contests.

Four is better than three
Mizzou's Dec. 15 game against UMKC marked the first time all season the Tigers had four players score in double-figures. Alyssa Hollins (21), Jessra Johnson (20), Shakara Jones (17) and Amanda Hanneman (10) all reached double-figures in scoring against the Kangaroos.

Missouri had three players tally double-figures against Murray State, Eastern Illinois, South Dakota State, Texas State and Stephen F. Austin and two players against Samford, Robert Morris, Arkansas and Mississippi Valley State.

Jones tops among Big 12 freshmen
Freshman forward Shakara Jones leads all Big 12 Conference freshmen in scoring (13.4) and rebounding (7.3) through the first 10 games of her career. Jones is closely followed by Colorado's Brittany Spears in scoring (13.3) and rebounding (7.0), as well as Texas' Kathleen Nash in boards (7.0).

Jones also has three double-doubles on the year (Murray State - 27 pts, 14 rbs; Texas State - 20 pts, 13 rbs; UMKC - 17 pts, 10 rbs) to tie for third in the league among all players in that category. Oklahoma's Courtney Paris paces the conference with nine double-doubles and Texas Tech's Dominic Seals has four.

Hollins and Johnson pour in the points
The dynamic duo of guard Alyssa Hollins and forward Jessra Johnson continue to lead the Tiger offense, combining for 35.7 points per contest this year.

Hollins is tied for second in the conference with a clip of 17.9 ppg. and Johnson is right behind with an average of 17.8 ppg. to rank fourth.

Amazingly, both Hollins and Johnson had games where they posted low single-digit outputs. Hollins opened the second with just four points against Murray State and Johnson scored only one point against Samford.

Each player has posted multiple 20-point games to bolster their averages. Johnson has scored at least 20 points six times this season and Hollins has reached the number five.

Tigers lose heartbreaker
Stephen F. Austin overcame an early second half 18-point deficit to defeat Missouri 84-81 in overtime in the championship game of the CenturyTel Tiger Tournament on Dec. 8.

The Tigers entered the second half up 40-26 and built their lead to 18 but Stephen F. Austin came roaring back to tie the game in the final minute and send the contest into overtime. Mizzou shot 20 percent (2-of-10) in the overtime session and only managed five points as SFA secured its dramatic 84-81 comeback victory.

Sophomore Jessra Johnson led Mizzou with 21 points and 13 boards and freshman Shakara Jones added 17.

Scott shines in loss

One bright spot for the Tigers in their overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin was the play of sophomore Marissa Scott. A fixture in the starting lineup all season, Scott entered the SFA contest as one of Mizzou's best post defenders but had yet to make much of an impact on the offensive end.

Against SFA, Scott took only four shots but made all three of her 3-point attempts to post a career high nine points to go along with eight rebounds.

Scott has also been a menace on the boards of late, averaging 7.8 rpg. over the past five contests.

Hollins has career night
Junior Alyssa Hollins erupted for a career high 28 points in Mizzou's 69-52 win over Mississippi Valley State in the first game of the CenturyTel Tiger Tournament on Dec. 7.

Hollins shot 10-of-20 from the floor on the night, hit five of her six free throw attempts and tied her career best with six rebounds in the game. Her point output is the most scored by a Tiger this season, just besting freshman Shakara Jones' total of 27 in the season opener.

Hollins, Johnson named to all-tournament team.
Junior Alyssa Hollins and sophomore Jessra Johnson were both named the the all-tournament team of the CenturyTel Tiger Tournament after two strong outings last weekend.

Hollins averaged 22.0 ppg., including a career best 28 against Mississippi Valley State, and Johnson averaged 21.0 ppg. and 10.5 rpg.

Tigers win without leading scorer
Playing without leading scorer Jessra Johnson, the Tigers secured a 70-61 win over Texas State at Mizzou Arena on Dec. 1. Freshman Shakara Jones led the charge with her second career double-double after recording 20 points and 13 rebounds and junior Alyssa Hollins scored 18, including 16 in the second half.

Richbow boards with the best
Entering the Texas State game with a career high five rebounds, sophomore Toy Richbow used all of her 5'6" frame to pull down 10 boards against the Bobcats.

Richbow had recorded five rebounds against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 15 but the guard breezed by that mark with her numbers against Texas State. Her four offensive rebounds in the contest almost set a new career mark in their own.

Cold shooting hampers Tigers
Missouri shot a season-low 26.2 percent (16-61) from the floor in the Tiger's 66-53 loss to Arkansas on Nov. 28, including 21.2 percent (7-33) in the first half. Despite the cold shooting, Mizzou only trailed the Lady Razorbacks 31-25 at the half and cut the deficit to 51-50 with just over six minutes left in the game.

Mizzou's previous season-low in field goal percentage was .400 (20-50) in the loss to Samford.

Three spree

In a game where the Tigers were ice cold from inside the arc, Missouri stayed close with Arkansas on hot shooting from the 3-point line. The Tigers made six threes in the first half on 6-of-13 shooting to keep within striking distance of the Lady Razorbacks.

Mizzou's barrage of threes continued to the second half, where the squad sunk another five 3-pointers for a game total of 11 and shot 42.3 percent from behind the arc.

Scott on rebounding roll
In the first 14 games of her Mizzou career, sophomore Marissa Scott pulled down a total of 13 rebounds. The next three games of her career was ifferent story for the forward, who has tallied 28 total rebounds against Robert Morris (11), Arkansas (nine) and Texas State (eight). Her per game rebounding mark has increased from 3.0 in the first four games of the season to 5.8 during that span.

Hollins secures win over Robert Morris
Junior guard Alyssa Hollins made a 15-foot jumper with two seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 74-73 win over Robert Morris in Mizzou's second game in the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament. After the Tigers committed turnovers on three straight possessions that allowed the Colonials to go ahead 73-72 with seconds left, Hollins received an inbounds pass, dribbled around a defender and nailed the winning shot.

The basket gave Hollins 22 points in the game, one above her previous career high, and shot 10-of-20 from the field to go along with six assists.

Hanneman shines
While many of her teammates struggled in Mizzou's loss to Samford on Nov. 24, sophomore Amanda Hanneman took advantage of her increased playing time and led the Tigers with a career high 16 points on 6-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-6 from the 3-point arc.

Hanneman was rewarded for her efforts with her first career start the following day against Robert Morris and played 22 minutes.

Hollins named to all-tournament team
Junior Alyssa Hollins was named to the FAU Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 16.5 points in Mizzou's two games in Boca Raton, Fla. She scored 11 points against Samford on Nov. 24 but really shined against Robert Morris, as the guard posted 22 points, including the game-winning shot.

Johnson has career night
Sophomore Jessra Johnson filled up the stat sheet in Mizzou's contest with Eastern Illinois on Nov. 15. Over the course of the game, Johnson posted 22 points and pulled down 19 rebounds both of which were career highs. Her 19 rebounds were the most by a Tiger since Evan Unrau recorded 20 against Texas on Jan. 10, 2001.

Johnson bested her previous score total of 21 set in the season opener and rebound mark of 10, which she recorded against at Stanford last season.

Shak attack
Freshman Shakara Jones stole the show in her Missouri debut with a game-high 27 points and 14 rebounds in Mizzou's win over Murray State. Jones' point total set a new Tiger mark for freshmen in their Missouri debut and was the highest total in a season opener since Julie Helms poured in 38 in 1999.

Jones responded in Mizzou's second game against Eastern Illinois with 15 points.

All in the family
Freshman forward Shakara Jones becomes the second member of her family to don the No. 44 jersey on the Tiger hardwood. Her father, Ron Jones, played for Mizzou under Norm Stewart from 1980-84. Known as a defensive specialist, Ron held Michael Jordan to 13 points in Missouri's 64-60 upset of North Carolina in 1982.

Injury bug hits early
Freshman guard Bekah Mills will be forced to sit out her inaugural Tiger campaign after suffering an ACL tear in her right knee at practice on Oct. 27. She looked strong in the preseason and would have challenged for the starting position.