Dec. 9, 2008

The University of Missouri women's basketball team (3-4) returns to Mizzou Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 9 for a nonconference contest against Missouri Valley Conference foe Bradley (6-1) at 6:30 p.m. Mizzou leads the all-time series 6-2, including a 77-58 win in the two teams' last meeting, on Nov. 23, 2003. The contest with the Braves will be televised locally with Beau Baehman on play-by-play duties and former Iowa State Cyclone Anne O'Neil as the color analyst. The game came be found on KZOU in Mid-Missouri, Metro Sports in Kansas City and Fox Sports Midwest throughout most of Missouri. Fans will recieve free admission with a toy donation for Toys for Tots.

Up Next Mizzou next hits the court on Sunday, Dec. 14 in a contest with UT Martin at 2 p.m. at Mizzou Arena.

Scouting Bradley The Braves enter Mizzou Arena with a 6-1 record, including wins over Illinois (71-53), UC Riverside (59-56), Northern Arizona (83-66), Northern Illinois (77-62) Eastern Illinois (71-69) and Loyola-Chicago (67-60). Their lone loss was a 72-61 contest at Illinois Chicago on Nov. 22. Three different players average in double figures for Bradley, led by senior forward Monica Rogers' 13.7 ppg. and 10.0 rpg. Freshman guard Michelle Lund contributes 13.0 ppg. and junior guard Skye Johnson adds 10.0 ppg. and 5.6 apg. Head Coach Paula Buscher is in her ninth year with the Braves and sports a 102-133 record at the school.

Tigers roar past Toledo The Missouri women's basketball team rushed out to an early lead to record a 70-50 victory over Toledo on Dec. 3 at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers improved to 3-4 on the year while the Rockets fell to 2-5. Senior Alyssa Hollins and sophomore Shakara Jones each scored 15 points to pace the Tigers while junior Jessra Johnson contributed 10 points and eight rebounds. The Tigers came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and grabbed four steals within the first minute and half of the contest. On the offensive end, Mizzou made seven of its first 11 shots to run to a 16-2 lead after redshirt freshman Bekah Mills nailed a three with 14:57 on the clock. Missouri kept it up offensively and gradually built a 24-point advantage, 34-10, capped by back-to-back baskets from freshman Bailey Gee. The Rockets managed to get within 17, 37-20, when Allie Clifton converted a layup with 24 second left in the frame but Hollins buried a jumper with five seconds remaining to give the Tigers a 39-20 halftime advantage.

Hollins joins 1,000-point club A jumper with 12:37 left in regulation against Holy Cross on Nov. 29 gave senior Alyssa Hollins the 999th and 1,000th points in her career, making the guard the 26th player in Mizzou history to record 1,000 points. With 15 points against Toledo on Dec. 3, Hollins now has 1,033 in her career, just one point shy of tying EeTisha Riddle (04-07) for 24th place on the all-time list. The last Tiger to reach the 1,000-point plateau was Riddle, who accomplished the feat against in the 2007 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship againstTexas on March 6, 2007.

Johnson stealing the show Junior Jessra Johnson notched a career high tying four steals against Toledo on Wednesday, the second time in four games the forward recorded four steals. With 20 on the young season, Johnson currently leads the Big 12 with 2.89 spg.

Steals galore Against Toledo on Dec. 3, Mizzou posted 17 steals, the most the squad has recorded since grabbing 17 against Clemson on Nov. 11, 2005. As a team, the Tigers rank third in the conference in steals at a clip of 9.57 per game.

Johnson doing it all Johnson started her junior season on a tear and has not let up in the first seven games of the year. She currently leads the team in scoring (15.4), rebounding (8.4), steals (2.9), and blocks (1.1). In the Big 12 Conference, Johnson ranks first in steals, sixth in defense rebounds, seventh in rebounding and eighth in scoring,

Jones shooting lights out Sophomore Shakara Jones has shot lights out in the first seven games. The forward, who has shot at least 50 percent from the field in every game this year, leads the squad and is sixth in the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 56.1 (37-66). Against Holy Cross on Nov. 29 she made 10-of-15 shots from the floor for a season high 22 points. Jones is currently third on the team with 12.4 ppg. and 5.0 rpg.

Mizzou dishes out the assists Against Holy Cross on Nov. 29, Mizzou was credited with an impressive 31 assists on its 37 field goals. The total was the most since Nov. 11, 1984, when Missouri dished out a team record 41 in a contest with Cleveland State. Eight different Tigers posted at least one assist against the Crusaders, led by a career high tying seven from junior Toy Richbow. Sophomore Jasmyn Otote also had a personal best with five and senior Alyssa Hollins and redshirt freshman Bekah Mills also had five to tie career bests.

Gee makes an impact Freshman Bailey Gee played a season high 12 minutes against the Rockets on Wednesday and posted a career high six points and nabbed two steals. After playing sparingly and scoring no points in the first five games of the year, the guard has played a total of 20 minutes and scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor the last two contests.

Rare triple overtime game for Tigers Saturday's triple overtime contest against Holy Cross, a 94-93 loss, was only the second such game in Mizzou's 34-plus year history. The only other triple overtime game was a 118-111 loss at Kansas on Jan. 29, 1983.

Johnson makes all-tournament team In the DoubleTree White Invitational on Nov. 29-30, junior Jessra Johnson shot 8-of-14 from the field to post 19 points and nine boards in a come-from-behind win over host Northwestern and recorded 21 points, nine rebounds and three steals in a triple overtime loss to Holy Cross. The forward averaged 20.0 ppg. and 9.0 rpg. in the two games to earn all-tournament team honors.

Another record for Hollins Senior Alyssa Hollins set yet another three-point field goal record in Missouri's game against Holy Cross on Nov. 29. The guard made seven treys in the contest to tie former Tiger Julie Helm for the single game record. Helm made her seven threes against Texas Tech on March 1, 1997. She also set a program mark with 16 three-point field goal attempts in the game, breaking her old record of 13 set against Arkansas on Nov. 28, 2007. Hollins holds both the single season and career three-pointer records as well. Last season she made 90 threes to smash Amanda Lassiter's old mark of 65 and became the all-time three-point field goal leader, passing Carlynn Savant's record of 142. Her record currently stands at 183.

Bombs away Led by Hollins' 16 three-point attempts against the Crusaders on Nov. 29, the Tigers launched 32 threes to break the program's previous three-point field goal attempt record of 27, set against Iowa State on Feb. 20, 2002. The total was also six more than Missouri's season high last year, when the squad attempted 26 in games with Arkansas (Nov. 28) and Marshall (Dec. 28).

Brown a beast on the boards At 5-8 sophomore RaeShara Brown is Mizzou's second shortest player yet aftersix games, the guard is second on the team with 6.7 rpg. Brown's biggest night on the boards this year was an impressive 12 rebound outing, including four on the offensive end, against Holy Cross on Nov. 29. Additionally, Brown has started all seven games and is playing a team fourth best 27.1mpg. this season. So far this year, she has recorded 47 rebounds, three more than she posted all of last season.