Jan. 22, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball hosts the No. 10/12 Baylor Bears at Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. The University will collect cash donations to benefit the American Red Cross for Haiti Relief and Development at the game. Additionally, former Tiger greats and 2010 University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame inductees Amanda Lassiter and Sandi Prophete ("Lade Majic") will be honored during halftime.
The Bears hold a 13-4 edge in the all-time series after claiming a 72-43 win in Waco, Texas, on Feb. 14, 2009.
UP NEXT
The Tigers next travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a 7 p.m. game against No. 12/17 Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Mizzou then returns home to "Pack the Zou" against Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 30 in the Heart of the Tiger event. All tickets for the game are just $1 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to heart health research. The first 500 fans will also receive a free T-shirt.
SCOUTING BAYLOR
No. 10/12 enters Mizzou Arena with a 14-3 overall record and a 1-2 mark in Big 12 Conference play. The Bears are 3-3 against teams in the top-25, with wins over No. 17/11 California (69-49), No. 14/13 Arizona State (70-66) and No. 13 Oklahoma (57-47) and losses to No. 8/9 Tennessee (74-65), No. 23 Oklahoma State (78-65) and No. 11/9 Nebraska (65-56).
The Bears average just under 80 points a game with 79.9 ppg. on a league high 50.6 percent from the field and force opponents to shoot a conference best 31.2 percent from the floor. The team also leads the country with 8.1 bpg.
Freshman sensation Brittney Griner leads Baylor with 18.9 ppg., 9.1 rpg. and ranks second nationally with 6.2 bpg. She is joined in double figures by junior Melissa Jones, who posts 11.6 ppg. and 6.6 rpg. and senior Morghan Medlock, who adds 11.0 ppg. and 7.4 rpg.
Head Coach Kim Mulkey is in her 11th season at the helm of the Bears and has a 251-69 record with the team.
LAST TIME VS. THE BEARS
Missouri suffered a 72-43 loss at No. 6/7 Baylor on Saturday, Feb. 14 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
Jessra Johnson paced the Tigers with 10 points and eight rebounds. Danielle Wilson and Jhasmine Player led the Bears with 26 and 14 points, respectively.
LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma's Amanda Thompson made a jumper with nine seconds left and the Tigers missed a game-winning shot as the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners earned a 62-61 win over the Tigers Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena.
Mizzou took a 61-60 lead when senior Jessra Johnson hit a jumper with 1:09 remaining in the game. Both teams missed shots in the final minute until Thompson grabbed an offensive rebound and hit the putback with 9.6 seconds on the clock for a 62-61 Sooner advantage. Senior Toy Richbow raced down the court and found Johnson, whose three-point attempt fell short as Oklahoma held on for the victory.
Johnson led four Tigers in double figures with 18 points and seven rebounds. Junior Shakara Jones chipped in 13 points while classmate RaeShara Brown posted 12 points, five assists and five steals. Sophomore Christine Flores added 11 points.
The game featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes.
TIGERS TO HONOR FORMER GREATS Former Missouri women's basketball players and 2010 University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame inductees Amanda Lassiter and Sandi Prophete ("Lade Majic") will be honored at halftime of the Baylor game. The two and the rest of the 2010 class (Mahlon Aldridge - broadcaster; Ryan Frey - baseball; Jim Johnson - football, 1964 Baseball Team) were inducted on Friday, Jan. 22.
GEE SUFFERS SEASON-ENDING INJURY
Sophomore guard Bailey Gee suffered a season-ending injury on Feb. 19 when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament of her right knee.
Gee played in eight games before the injury, averaging 4.5 ppg. and shooting 62.5 percent from the field in 8.6 mpg. She is the second Mizzou player to injure her ACL this year, as redshirt freshman Bekah Mills suffered the injury during preseason practice.
BROWN SIXTH NATIONALLY IN STEALS
Junior RaeShara Brown leads the Big 12 and ranks sixth nationally with 59 steals on the year for an average of 3.5 spg. Most recently the guard swiped five steals against Oklahoma on Jan. 20.
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.
TIGER DEFENSE STEPS UP
Missouri's defense stepped up big in the team's narrow 62-61 loss to No. 13 Oklahoma on Jan. 20. The Tigers forced the Sooners to commit 23 turnovers (14 in the first half) compared to just 12 for Mizzou. Missouri managed to grab 11 steals, including five from junior RaeShara Brown.
JOHNSON A FORCE IN THE PAINT
Senior Jessra Johnson was a force down low in the team's game with Oklahoma on Jan. 20. The forward posted a team high 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor, including an impressive 8-of-10 from inside the arc.
Her biggest basket of the night came with OU leading 60-61 and the shot clock winding down. Stationed outside the arc, Johnson drove to the free throw line and nailed a jumper with 1:09 left in the game for a 61-60 Tiger lead.
RICHBOW MAKES THE BIG SHOTS
Senior Toy Richbow only scored four points against the Sooners on Jan. 20 but they were four big points.
The guard was scoreless for the first 16:25 of the game before knocking down a jumper off an assist from RaeShara Brown with 3:35 left in the game to give the Tigers a 57-56 lead.
On Mizzou's very next possession after an Oklahoma basket, the experienced senior answered a drove into the lane and converted a layup to once again give the Tigers a one-point lead, 59-58, with 2:33 on the clock.
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 12.4 ppg. and 6.0 rpg., while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 73.7 percent from the free throw line.
During the stretch Flores reached double figures in eight 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 9.4 ppg. on 47.9 percent shooting from the field.
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.
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.
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 - eight times; Christine Flores - eight; Bailey Gee - one; Amanda Hanneman - seven; Jessra Johnson - nine; Shakara Jones - eight; Marissa Scott - one; Toy Richbow - one) have reached double figures so far this season.
Additionally, the Tigers have five players averaging at least 9.4 ppg.: Johnson - 12.5; Jones - 10.7; Hanneman - 9.9; Brown - 9.5; Flores - 9.4.
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 18 points against Oklahoma to put her career total to 1,089, which ties her for 22nd in MU history.
Johnson should also end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 610 in her career, she needs 59 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.
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 9.5 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 38 of her 81 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end.
Brown also leads the Tigers in assists (3.7 apg.) and steals (3.5 spg.).