Dec. 12, 2009

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COLUMBIA, Mo. -The University of Missouri women's basketball team continues its six-game homestand with a contest against the Murray State Racers Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena. The game will be televised live on the Mizzou Sports Network with Beau Baehman on play-by-play duties and former Iowa State Cyclone Anne O'Neil serving as the color analyst. The contest can be found on Fox Sports Midwest in mid-Missouri, Metro Sports in Kansas City, in addition to Universal Sports in Columbia.

The Tigers hold a 3-0 all-time record over the Racers, including a 73-67 win in the last meeting on Nov. 9, 2007.

UP NEXT

After a seven day layoff, Missouri returns to Mizzou Arena for a game with Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday, Dec. 21 at 6:30 p.m. analyst.

SCOUTING MURRAY STATE

The Racers enter Mizzou Arena with a 4-4 record. The team started the season with four straight wins, including a 69-59 road victory over Memphis, but has dropped the last four games. During the team's four game win streak, Murray State averaged 80.8 ppg., but the production dropped to 63.0 ppg. during the four game slide.

The team averages 71.8 ppg. while shooting 39 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from the three-point line. Murray State also swipes 9.9 spg. and swats away 3.9 bpg.

Sophomore Rachel Isom paces the Racers with 11.4 ppg., followed closely behind by freshman Mariah Washington's 10.8 ppg. Senior Mallory Luckett averages 8.1 ppg. and 8.6 rpg. to go along with 5.9 apg.

Head Coach Rob Cross is in his second season with the Racers and owns a 27-13 record with the team.

LAST TIME VS. MURRAY STATE

Shakara Jones and Jessra Johnson combined for 48 points and 22 rebounds to propel the Missouri women's basketball team to a 73-64 season-opening victory over Murray State on Nov. 9, 2007.

Jones posted a double-double to lead Missouri (1-0) with 27 points and 14 rebounds in her collegiate debut while Johnson posted 21 points and eight rebounds. Toy Richbow added 10 points and five steals for the Tigers.

LAST TIME OUT

Missouri used 54 points from the bench as the team cruised to an 83-34 victory over Texas-Pan American Thursday night.

Sophomores Christine Flores and Bailey Gee each scored 14 points to pace the Tigers. Gee's output, which came on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, was a new career high. Senior Amanda Hanneman also reached double figures with 13 points, while sophomores BreAnna Brock and Kendra Frazier also notched career highs with eight and seven points, respectively.

GEE EARNS THE SPOTLIGHT

Sophomore Bailey Gee had a breakout game against Texas-Pan American Dec. 10 at Mizzou Arena. She played a season high 19 minutes and erupted for a personal best 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor.

Entering the game with the Broncs, Gee has seen action in just two of Missouri's first seven games, playing a total of six minutes and no points.

Her 14-point ouput surpassed her previous career high of 13 points, accomplished against UT Martin on Dec. 14, 2008.

FLORES STEPS UP
Sophomore Christine Flores has upped her play in Mizzou's last three games. In the first five contests of the year, the forward averaged just 2.0 ppg. In games against Ball State (Dec. 5), Bradley (Dec. 8) and Texas-Pan American, Flores has upped her production to 11.0 ppg.

She saw 13 minutes of playing time against Ball State and posted a season high 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor. Her point total stands as the second highest total of her career (behind 18 points against Duquesne on Jan. 3, 2009). On Dec. 8, Flores played 15 minutes and notched nine points against Bradley. Then three days later she again played 15 minutes and scored a season high 14 points, including a 6-of-7 mark from the free throw line.

BENCH PRODUCTION POWERS TIGERS

Entering their game with Texas-Pan American on Dec. 10, Missouri's five starters averaged 53.8 of the team's 68.1 ppg., which equated to 79 percent of the team's offense.

It was a different story against the Broncs, as the Tigers got 54 points from the bench, a full 20 points more than the entire Texas-Pan American team total. Seven of eight players off the bench scored, including 14 points apiece from sophomores Christine Flores and Bailey Gee.

TIGERS UP THEIR DEFENSE

Over the past two games the Tigers have nabbed 14.5 spg. in wins over Bradley and Texas-Pan American. In Mizzou's first six games of the season, the team averaged just 8.3 spg.

Those extra steals have accounted for the Tigers forcing their opponents into 28.0 turnovers per game the past two contests, compared to the 17.8 Mizzou opponents committed in those first six games.

The team now ranks second in the Big 12 in turnover margin (+5.3) and third in steals (9.9).

TIGERS STRONG ON THE OFFENSIVE GLASS

Missouri grabbed a season high 26 offensive rebounds (compared to 23 defensive rebounds) in the team's 52-46 victory over Bradley on Dec. 8. So far this year the team has recorded at least 19 offensive boards in five of its eight games.

The total is also a major reason Mizzou ranks first in the Big 12 with 18.6 offensive rebounds per game, ahead of Oklahoma, which averages 14.9.

On an individual level, junior Shakara Jones is third in the league with 3.9 offensive rebounds per game.

JOHNSON REACHES MILESTONE

With a layup to start scoring in the second of Missouri's game against Bradley on Dec. 5 senior Jessra Johnson etched her name in the MU record book. The basket marked the 999th and 1,000th points in her Tiger career, making her the 27th player in Missouri history to score at least 1,000 points.

Johnson entered the 2009-10 season with 902 points in her career, just 98 shy of the century mark. She posted five points against Texas-Pan American to put her career total to 1,015.

Johnson should also end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 578 in her career, she needs 91 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.

DEFENSE COMES UP BIG AT BRADLEY
On a day when the Tiger offense was not clicking on all cylinders, the Tiger defense stepped up to lead Mizzou to a 52-46 win at Bradley on Dec. 8.

Missouri shot a season low 26.9 percent from the floor (18-67) but also posted season highs with 49 rebounds and 16 steals against just 13 turnovers. On the other side, the Tigers forced Bradley to commit 26 turnovers. Junior RaeShara Brown led the charge with a career high-tying five steals in the contest.

Mizzou's previous season best in steals was 10, accomplished against Northern Iowa in the season opener.

TIGERS POST PLAY STOPS BALL STATE
Mizzou's post play deserves much of the credit for the 66-55 victory over Ball State on Dec. 5. The team more outscored the Cardinals 46-22 in the paint, with the trio of Jessra Johnson, Shakara Jones and Christine Flores doing most of the damage.

Johnson posted a team high 18 points while Jones scored 15 points and Flores chipped in a season high 10.

The 46 points in the paint also was a season high for the Tigers, besting the 42 points scored against Memphis on Nov. 18.

JOHNSON NEARLY DOUBLE-DOUBLE

Senior Jessra Johnson leads Mizzou with 15.0 ppg. and 7.6 rpg. but cannot seem to catch a break in one category: double-doubles. The forward has missed double-doubles by just one rebound four times this season, including three games in a row against Florida State, Ball State and Bradley.

Johnson started the trend with a 22 point, nine rebound performance against Memphis. It continued at No. 9 Florida State with 16 points and nine boards. An 18 point, nine rebound outing against Ball State was followed with her 17 point, nine rebound night at Bradley.

STRONG SECOND HALF FUELS COMEBACK

The Tigers trailed Ball State 27-26 at the half on Dec. 5 after shooting just 33.3 percent (11-33) from the floor during the first 20 minutes.

Missouri came out of the break a different team, as the squad shot 58.6 percent (17-29) from the floor to outscore the Cardinals 40-28 during the second half. Mizzou also made 3-of-5 shots from behind the arc after shooting just 1-of-7 in the first half.

Six of the eight Tigers who attempted shots in the second half shot better than 50 percent.

JONES COLLECTS ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Junior forward Shakara Jones registered 15 points and 10 rebounds in Missouri's 66-55 win over Ball State on Dec. 5 to record her second double-double of the season. She also posted a double-double against Memphis with 16 points iand a team high 10 rebounds

Her output against Ball State marked Jones' fifth career double-double as a member of the Tigers. Besides her two this year, her three other double-doubles all came during her freshman season. In her first game with Mizzou, Jones erupted for 27 points and 14 rebounds, still career highs. She also had double-doubles against Texas State (20 points, 13 rebounds) and UMKC (17 points, 10 rebounds).

THREES APLENTY
The Tigers shot an impressive 50 percent (9-18) from behind the arc in the contest with No. 9 Florida State on Nov. 29. In the second half, Mizzou shot 60 percent (6-10) from three-point land. The last time the Tigers shot 50 percent from three was against Texas Tech on Jan. 12, 2008, when the team made 9-of-15 for 60 percent.

Senior Amanda Hanneman led the charge with six of Missouri's three-pointers.

BROWN DOING IT ALL

Known as a defensive specialist after nabbing 79 steals last season, junior RaeShara Brown is doing it all for the Tigers this year.

The guard is averaging 9.9 ppg. after marks of 1.0 ppg. and 6.0 ppg. as a freshman and sophomore, respectively. Brown, who stands just 5'8", also is third on the team with 5.9. More impressive is that 24 of her 47 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end.

Brown also leads the Tigers in assists (3.9 apg.) and steals (2.8 spg.).

BROWN COMES UP BIG
Junior RaeShara Brown was all over the court in Missouri's 69-65 win over Florida A&M on Nov. 27. The guard finished the game with 16 points, one off her career high, and had eight rebounds to go along with three steals.

Brown was especially big in the second half when the Rattlers made their move, scoring 11 of her points in the final 20 minutes. She continually drove to the basket, earning 12 free throw attempts, a career high.

BROCK'S BLOCK PARTY

Sophomore BreAnna Brock entered MU's game against Florida A&M without any blocks in her nine games in a Tiger uniform. Against the Rattlers on Nov. 27 the forward came up huge with four big blocks, the most for a Missouri player this season.

Brock also posted a career high seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor to go along with five rebounds in 16 minutes of action.

BROWN NOW A SCORING OPTION
Just two games into the 2009-10 season junior RaeShara Brown accomplished something she could not do in her first two years with the program: reach double figures in points for two consecutive games. After scoring 10 points against Bradley, the junior has now reached double figures in five of Mizzou's eight games.

Prior to this year Brown reached double figures just four times in her career, all in 2008-09.

HANNEMAN ERUPTS AGAINST UNI
Amanda Hanneman eruped for a career high 26 points in the season opener against Northern Iowa on Nov. 15. The senior also set career marks in field goals made (10), field goals attempted (16), three-point field goals made (six) and three-point field goals attempted (12). Her previous career high in points came when she posted 18 against Delaware State on Dec. 29, 2007.

Hindered by injuries throughout her career, Hanneman is healthy for the first time at MU and is putting her talent on display.

BROWN BRINGS HER A-GAME

Junior RaeShara Brown, known around the Big 12 for her defense, displayed every aspect of her game on Nov. 15 against Northern Iowa. The guard scored 10 points, pulled down a team high nine rebounds, dished out a career high assists and grabbed three steals.

Brown narrowly missed her first career double-double with nine rebounds and point total marked the fifth time in her career she reached double figures.

Last season started 28 games and averaged 6.0 ppg. (6.9 ppg. in Big 12 action), 6.1 rpg. and a conference high 2.6 spg.

INJURY BUG HITS MILLS, AGAIN
Redshirt sophomore point guard Bekah Mills is forced to the sideline for the second time in three years after suffering an ACL injury during preseason practice. Mills also injured her right knee in 2007-08 and was forced to redshirt the season.

Last year during her redshirt freshman campaign, Mills started 24 of 29 games for the Tigers. She averaged 23 minutes per contest to go along with 5.9 ppg. 3.2 rpg. and 2.2 apg. Mills was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Week on Dec. 15 after averaging 14.5 ppg. and shooting 72.7 percent from the field in games against Bradley and UT Martin.

BROWN ON THE DEFENSIVE

Junior guard RaeShara Brown emerged as one of the Big 12 Conference's finest defensive players in 2008-09. The Little Rock, Ark., native swiped 79 steals in 30 games for an average of 2.6 spg., tops in the league. In just conference action Brown upped her steals numbers to 2.94 spg., tops in the league by .44.

Her 79 steals stand as the seventh-best single-season total in program history.