Jan. 20, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball hits the court for the first of two home games as the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners enter Mizzou Arena for a 6:30 p.m. contest on Wednesday, Jan. 20. The game will be televised locally on Mediacom's Universal Sports (channel 247) with Bob Carpenter on play-by-play and Debbie Antonelli as the color analyst.
The Tigers hold a slight 29-25 edge in the all-time series but the Sooners won last year's matchup 78-56 on Jan. 31, 2009.
UP NEXT
The Tigers next hit the court as the team hosts No. 10 Baylor on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. Mizzou then travels to No. 15/19 Oklahoma State for a 7 p.m. contest on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma enters Mizzou Arena with a 12-4 overall mark and a 2-1 record in Big 12 Conference play.
Most recently the Sooners picked up big win over No. 8 Texas A&M, 74-65, on Sunday. All four of Oklahoma's losses have come at the hands of top-10 teams: Georgia, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Baylor.
The Sooner offense has four players who average double figures, led by junior Danielle Robinson's 16.4 ppg. on 51.4 percent shooting from the floor and team high 5.4 apg. Senior Nyeshia Stevenson is second with 13.9 ppg., followed by senior Abi Olajuwon, who posts 12.4 ppg. on 55.6 percent shooting to go along with 6.4 rpg. Senior Amanda Thompson adds 11.6 ppg. and a team high 9.6 rpg.
Head Coach Sherri Coale is in her 14th season at the helm of the Sooners and has a 297-136 record with the team.
LAST TIME VS. THE SOONERS
The No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners handed Mizzou a 78-56 loss on Saturday, Jan. 31 in Norman, Okla.
Alyssa Hollins led the Tigers with 17 points and Shakara Jones posted 11. Additionally, RaeShara Brown had team highs with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals to go with six points.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite outscoring Kansas 41-26 in the second half, Missouri suffered a 72-59 loss to the Jayhawks Sunday afternoon in Lawrence, Kan.
Junior RaeShara Brown paced the Tigers with 15 points and three steals while senior Amanda Hanneman joined her in double figures with 12 points. Senior Toy Richbow dished out a game high five assists.
Two free throws by Kansas gave the team a 31 point advantage, 57-26, with 14:20 remaining but the Tigers responded with a 15-0 run over the next four minutes for a 57-41 game with 10:40 left. Hanneman started the run with consecutive threes, followed by layups from Brown, Johnson and Jones and a trey from Brown.
Four three throws by KU's Sade Morris upped Mizzou's deficit back to 20, 61-41, but a three-pointer from junior Jasmyn Otote, two freebies from Brown and a long jumper from Hanneman as the shot clock expired brought the Tigers within 13, 61-48, with 5:41 on the clock.
Kansas answered with another basket but Hanneman nailed a jumper and Johnson converted a three-point play to cut the Tigers' deficit to 12, 65-53, with 4:15 left. Danielle McCray responded for the Jayhawks with a trey 20 seconds later and the teams traded baskets over the remaining minutes for a 72-59 final.
BROWN SIXTH NATIONALLY IN STEALS
Junior RaeShara Brown leads the Big 12 and ranks sixth nationally with 54 steals on the year for an average of 3.4 spg. Most recently the guard swiped four steals at Kansas on Jan. 17.
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.
SECOND HALF SURGE
After scoring just 18 first half points and shooting just 30 percent (9-30) from the floor against Kansas on Jan. 17, the Tigers turned their game around and scored 41 points on 50 percent shooting (15-30) from the field in the second half. During the team's 15-0 run, Missouri hit 6-of-7 shots.
The Tigers' second half surge was led by senior Amanda Hanneman and junior RaeShara Brown. Hanneman scored all 12 of her points in the final 20 minutes on 5-of-6 shooting, while Brown posted 11 points and grabbed all four of her rebounds in the second half.
Mizzou's defensive intensity also picked up in the final 20 minutes, holding KU to 36.4 percent shooting (8-22) after allowing the Jayhawks to shoot 59.4 percent (19-32) in the first half. Additionally Missouri forced Kansas into 15 second half turnovers.
HANNEMAN FINDS HER SHOT
After emerging a surprising scoring presence in Mizzou's first eight games, averaging 13.3 ppg., senior Amanda Hanneman had struggled with her shot since Dec. 28. In games against North Texas, Duquesne, Xavier, Colorado and Kansas State, Hanneman hit double figures just once while hitting just 21.4 percent of her shots from the field.
The first half against Kansas on Jan. 17 seemed much the same, as Hanneman missed all five of her shots. Things turned around in the second half, however, as the senior hit a jumper early into the period, which she followed with two big three-pointers during Mizzou's late run. Hanneman hit another two jumpers later before missing a layup with 28 second left.
During the second half, Hanneman made 5-of-6 shots, including both of her three-point attempts.
BROWN SHINES AGAINST KANSAS
Junior RaeShara Brown scored a team high 15 points in MU's game at Kansas on Jan. 17. The output marked the first time this season and only the second time in her career the guard led the Tigers in points.
Brown shot 5-of-9 from the floor and made all four of her free throw attempts against the Jayhawks, to go along with four rebounds, four steals. She scored 11 of her points in the second half as MU made a late comeback attempt.
She has now reached double figures seven times this season and 11 times in her career.
FLORES STRONG OF LATE
Sophomore Christine Flores has been the Tigers' biggest scoring threat for the last month and a half of the season. Since the game against Ball State on Dec. 5, the forward has averaged a team best 12.5 ppg. and 6.1 rpg., while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 73.6 percent from the free throw line.
During the stretch Flores reached double figures seven games and scored at least 16 points four times. She has notched a career high 19 points twice, against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 21 and against No. 14 Xavier on Jan. 5.
She also has all three of her career double-doubles during the stretch. Flores recorded her first with 16 points and 12 rebounds against Murray State. A 19 point, 14 rebound output in the next game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff was her second of the season. Most recently, she had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Colorado in the Big 12 opener.
Flores, who averaged just 2.0 ppg. the first five games this year, has upped her season scoring average to 9.3 ppg. on 48.1 percent shooting from the field.
JONES A BRIGHT SPOT
Junior Shakara Jones was one of Mizzou's offensive bright spots in the team's loss at Colorado on Jan. 9. The forward shot 6-of-12 from the floor to finish with 15 points, including 11 in the second half.
Jones helped jumpstart the Tiger comeback with five consecutive points to open second half scoring.
The 15 points marked her seventh double-digit scoring output of the season, tied with senior Jessra Johnson and sophomore Christine Flores for the team lead.
OFFENSIVE QUESTIONS ANSWERED
One question entering the 2009-10 season was where the offensive production would come from. Senior Jessra Johnson and junior Shakara Jones were Mizzou's two dependable scorers after averaging double figures the past two season but the question remained who else would step up.
Now the answer is evident: everyone. Eight different Tigers (RaeShara Brown - seven times; Christine Flores - seven; Bailey Gee - one; Amanda Hanneman - seven; Jessra Johnson - eight; Shakara Jones - seven; Marissa Scott - one; Toy Richbow - one) have reached double figures so far this season.
Additionally, the Tigers have five players averaging at least 9.0 ppg.: Johnson - 12.1; Jones - 10.6; Hanneman - 10.4; Brown - 9.4; Flores - 9.3.
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 against Kansas to put her career total to 1,071, which ranks her 24th in MU history.
Johnson should also end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 603 in her career, she needs 66 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.
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.
A 10 point, 10 rebound performance at Colorado on Jan. 9 marked her third career double-double, tops among all Tigers this season.
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.
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 9.4 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 4.8 rpg. More impressive is that 34 of her 77 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end.
Brown also leads the Tigers in assists (3.6 apg.) and steals (3.4 spg.).