Jan. 30, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (10-9, 1-5 Big 12) travels to Norman, Okla., on Saturday, Jan. 31 for a contest against the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners (17-2, 6-0) at 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised in Norman on KAUT 43 and in Tulsa on Cox Channel 3 with Bob Carpenter providing play-by-play and Patti Phillips serving as the color analyst,. The Tigers hold a 29-24 advantage in the all-time series and upset the No. 11 Sooners in overtime, 70-64, in the first round of the 2008 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championshp.
Up Next
Missouri travels to Manhattan, Kan., for a game against the No. 12/14 Kansas State Wildcats (18-1, 5-1) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, which will be broadcast live on FSN Kansas City. Mizzou will then return home on Saturday, Feb. 7 to face Border Showdown foe Kansas at 1 p.m. The contest will be televised on FSN with Brent Stover and Brenda VanLengen calling the game.
Scouting Oklahoma
The Sooners enter Saturday's match ranked second in the nation, sporting a 17-2 overall record and a perfect 6-0 mark in conference play. Oklahoma has won 13 in a row, including a 56-51 victory at No. 4 Baylor on Wednesday. The team ranks fourth nationally in scoring offense (80.5) and shots an impressive 49.0 percent from the floor to rank second nationally.
The sister tandem of seniors Courtney and Ashley Paris lead the Sooners, with both averaging double-doubles on the year. Courtney leads the team with 16.0 ppg. and 13.7 rpg. on 62.7 percent shooting from the field while Ashley adds 13.9 ppg. and 10.1 rpg. Sophomore Danielle Robinson also chips in 12.6 ppg. and 6.2 apg.
Head Coach Sherri Coale is in her 13th season at the helm of the team and sports a 271-129 record with the program.
Tigers fall to Oklahoma State
Missouri remained close for most of the second half but suffered a 68-60 defeat to Oklahoma State on Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena.
Senior Alyssa Hollins paced Mizzou with 17 points while sophomore Shakara Jones joined Hollins in double figures with 15. Junior Jessra Johnson pulled down 10 rebounds and redshirt freshman Bekah Mills recorded four assists and a career high four blocks.
Oklahoma State came out strong to start the game and went up 12-6 when Andrea Riley nailed a three-pointer with 13:50 on the clock.
After Riley hit another three-pointer to put up the Cowgirls' lead to 14, 30-16, Mizzou responded with a 9-0 run, capped by two free throws from Hollins with 14 seconds remaining in the first half. The run brought the Tigers back within five, 30-25, but Riley made a driving layup as time expired for a 32-25 Oklahoma State advantage at the break.
The visitors hit three of their first four shot attempts to open the second half and built their lead to 13, 42-29, after Shaunte' Smith made a jumper with 16:30 on the clock. Mizzou scored the next seven points, including five from Jones, to pull within five, 42-37, at the 14:51 mark.
The Tigers kept close over the next five minutes but a 10-2 Cowgirl run put Missouri back down 13, 57-42, with 7:42 remaining. Two three-pointers from Hollins, including one with 1:13 left, cut Oklahoma State's lead to seven, 63-56. However the Cowgirls hit five-of-six free throws in the final 1:10 to give them a 68-60 victory.
Hollins hitting the boards
Over the last eight games senior Alyssa Hollins has nearly doubled her rebounding output. The guard averaged 2.6 rpg. over the first 11 games of the year to exactly match her career average. Since she tied a career high eight eight boards against Duquesne on Jan. 3, Hollins has averaged 5.0 rpg. She now ranks fourth on the team with 3.6 rpg.
Mills blocking up a storm
Redshirt freshman Bekah Mills recorded a career high four blocks against Oklahoma State on Jan. 28 depsite standing just 5'9". The total was one more than her previous best, accomplished against both SEMO and Nebraska, and stands as the highest individual single-game total for the Tigers this season.
The guard has 19 blocks on the year and is tied with teammate Jessra Johnson with a team high 1.0 bpg. She also ranks second among Big 12 freshman in the category.
Tigers taking care of the ball
Over their first 19 games, Mizzou is averaging just 15.8 turnovers per game, which ranks fifth in the Big 12 in that category. On Nov. 22 the Tigers recorded a season low nine turnovers in a win over Western Illinois. Additionally, Missouri forces its opponents to commit 20.4 turnovers per game to rank second among Big 12 schools.
Overall the team ranks third in the league with a +4.6 turnover margin, helped along by a Big 12 second-best 10.5 spg. The Tigers have committed less turnovers than their opponents in 14 of their 19 games this year.
Mizzou one of youngest Big 12 teams
Missouri is tied as the youngest team in the Big 12, based on average year of a team's starters. The Tigers share the honor with Colorado. The calculation was based on a formula that counts class year as years of experience (senior = 4, junior = 3, sophomore = 2, freshman = 1).
Rank. Team Avg. Year of Starters
1. Missouri 2.4
Colorado 2.4
3. Kansas 2.8
Nebraska 2.8
Oklahoma 2.8
6. Texas Tech 3.0
7. Baylor 3.4
Iowa State 3.4
Texas 3.4
Texas A&M 3.4
11. Kansas State 3.6
Oklahoma State 3.6
Brown connects in conference play
Since the start of Big 12 play on Jan. 10, sophomore RaeShara Brown has upped her production in nearly every statistical category. Additionally, the guard has scored a new career high in two of the five league contests.
Category Big 12 Non-Conf.
Points 8.7 5.2
FG% 36.4 34.7
3FG% 40.0 0.0
FT% 75.0 57.7
Steals 2.5 2.4
Minutes 27.8 26.2
Brown on fire against Buffs
Sophomore RaeShara Brown had a career day against Colorado on Jan. 24. The guard posted a career high 17 points (four above her previous personal best) on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. She also hit only the second three-pointer in her career and nabbed a team high three steals.The game marked the first time Brown has led the Tigers in points and the third double figure output of her career.
Brown's previous career high came against Kansas on Jan. 14 when she scored 13 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the free throw line.
Steals galore
Over a three-game span from Dec. 3-Dec. 14, the Tigers have racked up a total of 57 steals for an average of 19.0 spg. The team started its steal party with 17 against Toledo on Dec. 3 and then did one better when 18 against Bradley on Dec. 9. Five days later, the Tigers posted 22 steals, the highest total in the Big 12 this year. Before the three-game stretch, the team's season high was 12 in a game with Western Illinois.
Missouri is averaging 10.5 spg. on the year to rank second in the Big 12, behind Texas A&M (12.4).
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 17 points against Oklahoma State on Jan. 28 Hollins now has 1,179 in her career, good for 18th place on the all-time list. She is eight points shy of passing LaToya Bond (03-06) for 17th place on the all-time list.
Hollins ups career three-point record
As a junior last year, senior Alyssa Hollins became the program's most prolific three-point field goal shooter, as she set Mizzou's career three-point record. With three treys against Oklahoma State on Jan. 28, she now has 205 in her career, 63 more than the second-best total.
Additionally, last season she made 90 threes to smash Amanda Lassiter's old single season mark of 65.