Jan. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (7-6, 0-0 Big 12) opens Big 12 Conference play at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Mizzou Arena against No. 23 Colorado (11-2, 0-0 Big 12). The Tigers and Buffs split their season series last year, with Colorado taking the first meeting 71-59 in Columbia on Jan. 3 and Mizzou winning 61-48 in Boulder on Jan. 28.
Up next
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. as the squad faces off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mizzou then hits the road for a game in Stillwater, Okla., on Jan. 16 against Oklahoma State and a contest against Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. on Jan. 19.
Scouting the Buffaloes
Colorado enters the game with an 11-2 record and has reeled off 10 consecutive wins since a 84-73 loss to Siena on Nov. 23. Ranked 23rd in the AP poll and receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches poll, the Buffs have beated a pair of ranked foes: No. 21/22 Wyoming (69-55) and No. 20/17 Vanderbilt (62-51.
Forward Jackie McFarland, an AP All-America honorable mention last season, ranks third in the Big 12 with 17.3 ppg. in her senior campaign to lead the Buffs. In six career games against the Tigers, McFarland has averaged 15.7 ppg., including 18.5 ppg. last year.
Brittany Spears currently leads all conference freshman in scoring with 13.5 ppg. and also pulls down an impressive 6.8 rpg.
Mizzou earns comeback win
Missouri went on a 12-0 run over the last 4:56 of the game to pick up a 55-50 comeback win over Delaware State in the consolation contest of the Marriott Cavalier Classic on Dec. 28 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va.
Scott to miss third straight game
Sophomore Marissa Scott will miss her third consecutive game on Wednesday after being diagnosed with mononucleosis in late-December. Scott had started Mizzou's first 11 games this year before the diagnosis and averaged 3.3 ppg. and 5.4 rpg. in almost 29 minutes of action per contest.
Down 44-33 with 10 minutes left in the game, sophomore forward Amanda Hanneman nailed a 3-pointer with 4:56 remaining to spark Mizzou's comeback. Sophomore forward Jessra Johnson then hit a basket and three free throws to give the Tigers a 51-50 lead at the 1:10 mark, the squad's first since they led 15-14 with 10:41 left in the first half.
Johnson led Missouri with 20 points, including 14 in the second half and Hanneman and Jones each notched 14. Hanneman, who scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive game, also recorded a career high five steals.
Hanneman named to all-tournament team
Sophomore Amanda Hanneman was named to the Marriott Cavalier Classic All-Tournament team after averaging 16.0 ppg. on 66.7 percent shooting from the floor in Mizzou's two games. Hanneman posted a career high 18 points against Marshall on Dec. 28 and recorded 14 points and a personal best five steals against Delaware State on Dec. 29.
Tigers change script
After losing second half leads in three of its past four games, Mizzou flipped the script against Delaware State to earn a 55-50 comeback victory.
The Tigers, who had been outscored by 54 points (176-122) by its opponents the previous four games, outscored the Hornets 30-20 on Dec. 28 to earn the five-point win.
Johnson scores 20 points...again
Sophomore Jessra Johnson, who entered her sophomore campaign with a career high of 12 points, has scored at least 20 points seven times this sesaon after notching 20 against Delaware State.
The forward also recorded her third double-double of the year against the Hornets after pulling down 11 rebounds, including five offensive, to go along with her 20 points.
A rare night for Hollins
Junior Alyssa Hollins was held to four points in Mizzou's win over Delaware State, marking only the second time this season the guard failed to tally at least 10 points. The only other time Hollins did not hit the mark was in the season opener against Murray State, where she also netted four points.
Luckily for the Tigers, the squad is 2-0 in games when Hollins fails to reach 10 points.
Mizzou in conference openers
The Tigers have opened conference action against Colorado once, a 71-59 loss to the Buffaloes on Jan. 3, 2007. The loss broke a short two-game winning streak in conference openers (over Oklahoma State and defending national champion Baylor) after Missouri had lost 11 consecutive openers from 1993-94 to 2003-04.
Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996, the Tigers are only 2-9 in conference openers.
Hanneman hot of late
Entering her sophomore season, Amanda Hanneman had not posted a double figure point total in her career. This season she has hit the mark six times, including the last four games. On Dec. 28 against Marshall, Hanneman erupted for a career high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field.
Over the past four games Hanneman has averaged 13.3 ppg. and shot 56.7 percent from the floor.
Hanneman on fire against Marshall
With the Tigers off to a slow start in the second half against Marshall, Amanda Hanneman took things into her own hands. The sophomore scored 11 straight points for Mizzou over a 3:26 span on a jumper, and ensuing free throw 3-pointer, layup and another layup.
She scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half.
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 held commanding leads against Stephen F. Austin and UMKC but failed to put the 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.