March 2, 2009
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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (13-14, 4-10 Big 12) closes out the home portion of the schedule on Tuesday, March 3 with a 6:30 p.m. game against the No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones at Mizzou Arena. Prior to the contest Missouri will honor senior Alyssa Hollins for her contributions to women's basketball program. The Tigers hold a 45-22 lead in the all-time series and but fell to the Cyclones, 65-42, on Jan. 21, 2009.
Up Next
The Tigers close out the regular season on Saturday, March 7 in a road game against Texas Tech at 2 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas. Mizzou then travels to Oklahoma City, Okla., for the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 66 Big 12 Championship. First round play kicks off on Thursday, March 12 with four games but matchups will not be finalized until after the regular season concludes.
Scouting Iowa State
The Cylcones, who own a 21-7 overall record and a 9-5 mark in Big 12 play, are coming off a 59-52 victory at Texas Tech on Saturday evening.
Senior Heather Ezell leads a trio of Cyclones who all score in double figures. Ezell leads the team with 11.7 ppg. and shoots 37.8 percent from behind in arc. Junior Alison Lacey and senior Nicky Wieben add 10.5 ppg. and 102. ppg., respectively, while sophomore Kelsey Bolte scores 9.8 ppg. Additionally, senior Amanda Nisleit records a team high 5.2 rpg.
Head Coach Bill Fennelly is in his 14th year at the helm of the team and sports a 301-139 record with the program.
Mizzou runs past Colorado
Four players scored in double figures as Missouri recorded a 66-55 road victory over Colorado on Saturday afternoon in Boulder Colo.
Junior Jessra Johnson led Mizzou with 19 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore RaeShara Brown contributed 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds and a career high tying five steals. Senior Alyssa Hollins had 14 points and sophomore Shakara Jones added 12 points.
Missouri shot 49.1 percent from the floor and forced 23 Colorado turnovers.
The Tigers opened the contest on fire from the field to go up 13-2 four and a half minutes in, highlighted by six points from Brown and five from Hollins. Seven points by Buffalo Brittany Spears brought the home team back within four, 16-12, three minutes later but Mizzou used baskets from sophomore Shakara Jones and freshman Christine Flores as the Tigers increased its advantage to 20-12 with 11 minutes on the clock.
Missouri maintained the lead and built its biggest advantage of the first half when Johnson nailed a three for a 31-20 game with 3:30 remaining on the clock. Colorado responded with a 9-2 run over the final minutes of the frame, including five points from Spears under a minute as the teams entered the break with Mizzou on top 33-29.
Four consecutive points from Jones less than three minutes into the second half upped Missouri's lead to 41-32.
Colorado cut its deficit to three, 47-44, when Spears hit a running layup but Brown grabbed an offensive board, made the putback, then hit a pullup jumper and a breakaway layup as Mizzou gained a 53-44 lead with seven minutes on the clock.
Five points from Johnson, including a three-pointer, pushed the score to 58-47 with just under five minutes remaining. The visitors held Colorado at bay over the final minutes and hit their free throws to hold on for the 66-55 victory.
Brown stealing up a storm
Sophomore guard RaeShara Brown has 70 steals on the year to average a Big 12 best 2.6 spg. this season. In just league play, Brown has upped her average to 2.8 spg., still a Big 12 high.
Brown's 70 swipes are 15 more than Alyssa Hollins' team high total from all of last year and rank 10th in Mizzou's single-season record book. She needs five more to tie Kerensa Barr's 2000-01 total of 75 for ninth on the single-season list.
Johnson on a roll
Junior Jessra Johnson has been an offensive force the past four games. The forward has averaged 18.8 ppg. in games against Kansas State (17), Nebraska, (23), Texas (16) and Colorado (19) and led the Tigers in points three of those four contests. Her 23-point outing was a season high and just one point shy of her career high.
Her rebounding had dropped to 6.5 rpg. following the Baylor game but Johnson has recorded nine, 11, 10 and seven rebounds in her last four games to get the average back up to 6.9 rpg.
Brown all over the floor
Sophomore RaeShara Brown showcased her all-around game in Mizzou's 66-55 victory over Colorado on Feb. 28. The guard scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor to go along with a team high eight rebounds and a career high-tying five steals.
Her 14 points were three shy of her career high of 17, also scored against Colorado on Jan. 24, 2009.
Missouri forcing miscues...
In both games last week the Tigers forced both Texas and Colorado to commit 23 turnovers in the contests, helped along by 21 combined Missouri steals in those games.
As a team Mizzou forces 19.2 turnovers per contest to rank second in the Big 12 behind Texas A&M's 22.8. The squad also ranks second with 9.9 spg., again behind the Aggies' 11.9 spg.
The Tigers have forced their opponents into at least 20 turnovers 12 times this season, including six times in conference action (Texas A&M = 20, Kansas = 20, Colorado = 23, 23, Baylor = 20, Texas = 23).
...and taking care of the ball
Missouri recorded a season low eight turnovers against Nebraska on Feb. 21, one less than the nine the Tigers committed on Nov. 22 against Western Illinois.
As a team the Tigers commit just 15.7 turnovers per game to rank fifth in the conference. Overall Mizzou ranks third in turnover margin with +3.5 and seventh with a 0.8 assist/turnover margin.
Johnson lighting it up
Junior Jessra Johnson averaged a team high 20.0 ppg. and 10.0 rpg. in games against Kansas State and Nebraska. In the Tigers' 52-43 upset of No. 14 Kansas State the junior lead the way with team highs in points (17), rebounds (nine), blocks (career high nine), steals (three) and assists (two). Against Nebraska three days later Johnson recorded her third double-double of the season with a season high 23 points and 11 rebounds on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Johnson's six blocks against the Wildcats were the most by a Tiger since Stretch James tied Amanda Lassiter's single-game record with seven against Missouri State (Southwest Missouri State) on Dec. 10, 2003.
Tigers hold block party
Mizzou recorded a season high 11 blocks against the Wildcats on Feb. 18, which is also the second highest total in the Big 12 this year. The 11 blocks were the most by the Tigers since the team recorded 11 against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4, 2005.
Additionally, Jessra Johnson's six blocks doubled the previous individual season high and stand one shy of the program single-game record of seven, held by Amanda Lassiter (vs. Western Kentucky; Dec. 4, 1999) and Stretch James (Missouri State [SMS]; Dec. 10, 2003). The forward's total was the most since James tied the program record over five years ago.