Jan. 8, 2010

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team opens Big 12 Conference action with a road contest at the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday afternoon in Boulder, Colo. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Midwest with Drew Goodman on the call and Ceal Barry serving as color analyst.

The Buffs hold a 38-27 edge in the all-time series but the two teams split last year's two meetings. Colorado picked up a 61-56 win at Mizzou Arena on Jan. 24, 2009, while the Tigers won 66-55 in Boulder on Feb. 28, 2009.

UP NEXT
The Tigers host the Kansas State Wildcats on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 6 p.m. 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.

SCOUTING COLORADO
Colorado enters Big 12 Conference play with a 10-3 record, including wins in four of its last five games. The team's only losses came at the hands of Minnesota (87-78), Colorado State (69-61) and No. 23 Virginia (74-59).

The Buffs average 73.8 ppg. and allow just 58.5 ppg. to their opponents, while shooting a respectable 44.0 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from behind the arc.

Junior Brittany Spears leads the Buffs with 19.8 ppg., which ranks third among Big 12 players. She also pulls down a team high 8.7 rpg. and shoots 40.3 percent from behind the arc. Senior Bianca Smith joins Spears in double-figures with 14.4 ppg. on 42.0 percent from the three-point line. Freshman Chucky Jeffery has been a nice addition to the team with 9.5 ppg. and 5.5 rpg.

Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller is in her fifth season at the helm of the Buffaloes and has a 62-74 record with the team.

LAST TIME VS. COLORADO
Four players scored in double figures as Missouri recorded a 66-55 road victory over Colorado on Feb. 28, 2009 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.

LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou staged a strong second half comeback but fell just short as the Tigers fell to No. 14/16 Xavier 68-60 Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.

Down 15 points, 62-47, with 5:21 remaining in the game, Missouri used a layup from junior RaeShara Brown to jumpstart an 11-0 run over the next three minutes. During the run, the Tigers used big three-pointers from seniors Jessra Johnson and Amanda Hanneman and a layup from Johnson that cut the Musketeer lead to four, 62-58, with 2:14 on the clock.

Both teams remained scoreless until Xavier's Special Jennings made two free throws with 40 seconds left. Johnson responded with two freebies of her own with 24 seconds on the clock to again cut Missouri's deficit to four, 64-60, but the Musketeers made four more free throws in the final seconds to claim the 68-60 victory.

Sophomore Christine Flores led the Tigers with 19 points and three blocks while senior Jessra Johnson joined Flores in double figures with 11 points. Junior RaeShara Brown dished out a game high five assists.

BROWN AT HER BEST AGAINST BUFFS
Last season junior RaeShara Brown's two best offensive games came against Colorado. The guard averaged 6.0 ppg. over the course of the season but poured in 15.5 ppg. in the Tigers' two games against the Buffs.

On Jan. 24, 2009, Brown scored a career high 17 points, four rebounds and five steals. One month later on Feb. 28, 2009, she helped Mizzou to a 66-55 at Colorado with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

STEIN CLOSING IN ON 250
Missouri Head Coach Cindy Stein enters the game with Xavier just two wins shy of the 250 mark. In her 15th year as a head coach, Stein sports a 248-185 (.573) record with Missouri and Emporia State.

Stein recorded 65 wins in three seasons at Emporia State and has 183 so far at the helm at Missouri.

TIGERS PROTECTED THE PAINT
Despite Xavier's clear height advantage on Jan. 5, the Tigers managed to be a force in the post. Missouri actually outscored the Musketeers 34-24 in the paint and outrebounded Xavier 37-35, including a 14-7 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Four of Xavier's five starters were 6-0 or higher, including 6-6 Ta'Shia Phillips and 6-5 Amber Harris. Before the season, ESPN.com named Harris the nations top power foward, while Phillips was among the top five centers in the country.

Sophomore Christine Flores, who stands 6-3, did the most damage down low, with 19 points.

FLORES PERFORMS AGAINST THE BEST
Sophomore Christine Flores had another standout performance against No. 14 Xavier on Jan. 5. The forward matched her career high with 19 points despite going against potential All-Americans Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips.

Flores was especially strong to start the second half, as she scored Missouri's first seven points of the final 20 minutes.

FLORES STEPPING UP
Sophomore Christine Flores has been the Tigers' biggest scoring threat for the last month of the season. Since the game against Ball State on Dec. 5, the forward has averaged a team best 14.0 ppg. and has been second on the team with 5.9 rpg. and 2.8 bpg., while shooting 50.6 percent from the field.

During the eight game stretch Flores has reached double figures six games and scored at least 16 points four times. She has notched a caerer high 19 points twice, against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 21 and against No. 14 Xavier on Jan. 5.

Flores, who averaged just 2.0 ppg. the first five games this year, has upped her season scoring average to 9.4 ppg. on 49.4 percent shooting from the field.

BROWN STEALING UP A STORM
Junior RaeShara Brown has been stealing up a storm the past few games. In contests with Murray State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, North Texas and Duquesne the guard has averaged 5.8 spg. Against both Arkansas-Pine Bluff and North Texas she grabbed a career high seven steals.

Brown now leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally with 3.6 spg. She averaged more than one steal more than the next closest Big 12 player (Texas Tech's Jordan Murphree - 2.7 spg.). With 47 steals so far this year, if she keeps on her current pace, Brown will have an excellent chance to break Amanda Lassiter's single-season steals record of 98.

Brown led the conference in steals last year with 2.7 spg. and 79 total on the year, which is the seventh best single-season total in Tiger history.

CLOSE BUT NOT ENOUGH
Trailing No. 14 Xavier by 15 points with 5:21 left in the game, the Tigers reeled off 11 consecutive points to pull within four, 62-58, with 2:14 on the clock.

A layup from junior RaeShara Brown got the Tigers started, followed on the next possession with a three-pointer from senior Jessra Johnson. Sophomore Christine Flores hit one-of-two free throws with 3:15 remaining before senior Amanda Hanneman nailed a three to cut the Musketeer lead to six. On Missouri's next possession, Johnson hit another shot for a 62-58 game with 2:14 left.

The Tigers missed quick three-pointers on their next two possessions and Xavier hit its free throws at the end to seal the win.

TIGERS START SLOW, FINISH STRONG
The Tigers got off to a slow start in the Jan. 2 game against Duquesne, as the Dukes led 21-6 with 11:06 left in the first half. The 15-point deficit was the largest for Missouri this season.

A three-pointer from senior Amanda Hanneman less than a minute laterjumpstarted the Mizzou offense, as the team responded with a 28-13 run over the next eight minutes to knot the score at 34-34 on a layup from junior Jasmyn Otote.

Duquesne did take a five-point lead into the break (also Missouri's largest halftime deficit of the season), but the Tigers came on strong in the second half. A layup from junior Shakara Jones started a 6-0 to start the half as Mizzou grabbed its first lead of the day, 40-39, just over a minute in.

SECOND CHANCE POINTS THE DIFFERENCE
The Tigers outrebounded Duquesne 45-31 on Jan. 2, including an 18-9 edge in offensive rebounds. Those 18 offensive rebounds helped account for 20 second chance points for Mizzou in the game, compared to just five for the Dukes.

Missouri's 13 second chance points in the first half are what kept the team in the game early, as the team, down 21-6, fought back to cut Duquesne's halftime advantage to 39-34.

BLOCKS APLENTY
The Tigers have blocked up a storm in their last six games. In contests against Texas-Pan American, Murray State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, North Texas and Duquesne, Mizzou has averaged 8.7 bpg., compared to just 3.0 in the team's first seven games of the year.

Over the six game stretch, sophomore Christine Flores leads the Tigers with 20 blocks, including seven against Murray State that tied the program single-game record.

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 11 points against Xavier to put her career total to 1,046.

Johnson should also end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 591 in her career, she needs 78 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.

RICHBOW UPS OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
Missouri's three wins against Murray State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and North Texas were aided significantly but senior Toy Richbow's increased offensive output.

The guard averaged 9.0 ppg. over those three contests, including a career high 11 points against North Texas on Dec. 28. She recorded eight points in games with both Murray State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Richbow was not looking for her shot nearly as much in the first eight games of the year. She averaged 2.0 ppg. over that stretch, with a four-point output at Indiana as the highest point total of that span.

FLORES DOUBLING UP
It took sophomore Christine Flores 37 games to earn the first double-double of her career with 16 points and 12 rebounds against Murray State on Dec. 13. It took her just one more contest to earn her second.

Flores posted her second career double-double with career highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 21.