Feb. 13, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (11-11, 2-7 Big 12) travels to Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Feb. 14 to take on the No. 6/7 Baylor Bears (20-3, 8-2) at 12:30 p.m. The Bears hold a 12-4 lead in the all-time series and picked up a 72-57 win over the Tigers on Jan. 23, 2008 at Mizzou Arena.
Up Next
Mizzou returns to Mizzou Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 18 for a 6:30 p.m. contest against No. 16/20 Kansas State (19-3, 6-3) in the Tigers' WBCA Pink ZoneTM event, a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 500 fans and $2 admission will be given to anyone wearing pink. All proceeds will benefit the Mid-Missouri Susan G. Foundation and the Kay Yow Foundation.
Scouting Baylor
The Bears have an impressive 20-3 overall mark and a 8-2 record in league play after a 64-62 overtime victory over Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., on Wednesday. The team averages 78.1 ppg. and shoots 42.6 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Junior Danielle Wilson is the team's leading scorer 15.0 ppg. to go along with 9.4 rpg. and 3.1 bpg. Seniors Jessica Morrow and Rachel Allison average 11.3 ppg. and 10.0 ppg., respectively, while senior Jhasmine Player adds 9.9 ppg.
Head Coach Kim Mulkey is in her 10th season at the helm of the team and sports a 228-63 record with the program.
Tigers run past Kansas
Missouri shot a season high 51.8 percent from the floor to propel the team to a 74-60 victory over Border Showdown rival Kansas on Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
Junior Jessra Johnson led four players in double figures with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 shooting from the free throw line. Senior Alyssa Hollins and sophomore Shakara Jones each added 15 points and junior Marissa Scott tossed in a career high 10 points and three blocks.
The score remained close early on until junior Toy Richbow found sophomore RaeShara Brown for a three-point basket at the 10:36 mark for a 21-13 Mizzou lead. Missouri continued to pull away and a layup from Scott off a pass from redshirt freshman Bekah Mills gave the squad a 30-19 edge.
Two free throw from Jayhawk Sade Morris cut the Tigers' lead to four, 30-26, with 4:05 left but the home team reeled off seven consecutive points to go back up 11, 37-26, with 2:36 on the clock. Missouri's 11-point advantage held up as Hollins drilled a three in the waning seconds of the half for a 40-29 Mizzou halftime lead. The Tigers started on fire in the second half and built an 18-point advantage, 53-35, when Johnson made a jumper with 13:48 remaining. Kansas got back within 12, 53-41, but Missouri used a 15-4 run, capped by a backdoor layup from Scott off a Johnson feed, to lead by a game high 23 points, 68-45, with 5:29 on the clock.
Mizzou, which led by double figures the entire second half, shot a season high 51.8 percent from the floor, including 56 percent in the second half.
Hollins selected to Mizzou `39
Alyssa Hollins was one of 39 University of Missouri seniors chosen to the 2009 class of Mizzou `39. The award program, created by the Mizzou Alumni Association in 2005, honors students in the spirit of service displayed by founding families of the University in 1839.
Hollins and the rest of the class selected for their academic achievement, leadership and service to the University and community. Recipients are selected by a committee of alumni and faculty that reviews the applications and conducts interviews. Recently Hollins and the other 38 seniors were publicly revealed for the first time at a ceremony on the Francis Quadrangle.
WBCA Pink ZoneTM next Wednesday
Mizzou will join the WBCA's Pink ZoneTM initiative by holding a "Pink Zone" game on Feb. 18 when the Tigers host No. 16/20 Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. in Mizzou Arena
In its third year, Pink ZoneTM is a global and unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 500 fans and $2 admission will be given to anyone wearing pink. All proceeds will benefit the Mid-Missouri Susan G. Foundation and the Kay Yow Foundation.
Brown stealing up a storm
Sophomore guard RaeShara Brown has 56 steals on the year to average a Big 12 best 2.5 spg. this season. In just league play, Brown has upped her average to 2.8 spg., still a Big 12 high. Additionally, since the Kansas game on Jan. 14, she has averaged 3.0 spg.
Brown's 56 swipes are one more than Alyssa Hollins' team high total from all of last year with at least seven more games to play.
Scott posts career high
Junior Marissa Scott started her second game in a row against the Jayhawks on Feb. 7 and did not dissapoint with a career high 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor in a season high 29 minutes. The forward also added two blocks and a steal.
Mizzou finds stroke against KU
Against Kansas on Feb. 7 the Tigers shot a season high 51.7 percent (29-56) from the floor. The team shot just under 50 percent (15-31) from the field in the first half but found its stroke in the second, making 14-of-25 shots for 56 percent.
Juniors Jessra Johnson and Marissa Scott led the way as the pair shot 6-of-8 and 5-of-8 from the floor, respectively.
Missouri's previous best shooting game of the year was against Duquesne, when the squad shot 48.3 percent (28-58).
Johnson in a groove
Junior Jessra Johnson shot 73.3 percent from the field and 80.0 percent from the free throw line in Mizzou's two games last week.The forward scored a team high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor against No. 14 Kansas State on Feb. 4. Three days later she hit 6-of-8 shots and 7-of-8 free throws for a team high 20 points. Johnson also made both of her three-point attempts during the week.
Tigers start slow, then get hot
Missouri could not find the basket in the opening minutes of its game against Kansas State on Feb. 4. The team started the contest shooting just 0.8 percent (1-12) from the floor and trailed 15-2.
The Tigers then found their stroke and shot 8-of-9 from the field to in a 19-5 run that gave the team a 21-20 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the first half.
After the 1-of-12 start, Missouri shot an impressive 68.8 percent (11-16) for the rest of the opening frame.
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 Kansas on Feb. 7, Hollins now has 1,222 in her career, good for 15th place on the all-time list. She is 90 points shy of passing Mary Brueggestrass (81-85) for 14th place on the all-time list.
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 showcases complete game
Sophomore RaeShara Brown was all over the stat sheet after Mizzou's game at Oklahoma on Jan. 31. The guard recorded team highs in rebounds (eight), assists (five) and steals (four) to go along with six points.
So far this season Brown has led the Tigers in steals and rebounds a team high 10 times assists a team second best six times and points and blocks once.
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 Kansas on Feb. 7, she now has 212 in her career, 70 more than the second-best total.
Additionally, last season she made 90 threes to smash Amanda Lassiter's old single season mark of 65.
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 10.0 spg. on the year to rank second in the Big 12, behind Texas A&M (11.7). The team is led by sophomore RaeShara Brown's 2.5 spg., who leads the conference in that category.