March 2, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team hits the road for the final time of the regular season for an away contest against the No. 18/22 Texas Longhorns on Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. at the Frank Erwin Center.
The Longhorns own a 17-1 lead in the all-time series and picked up a 62-59 win over Missouri in the first round of the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 12, 2009.
UP NEXT
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena for their final home game of the season in a matchup with Texas Tech on Senior Day on Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m. Prior to the contest, Missouri will honor seniors Amanda Hanneman, Jessra Johnson, Toy Richbow and Marissa Scott for their contributions to the women's basketball program.
SCOUTING TEXAS
Texas enters Wednesday's game with a 19-9 overall record and an 8-6 mark in Big 12 action. After reeling off six consecutive wins from Jan. 31-Feb. 17, the team has lost three straight, most recently a 75-60 defeat at the hands of No. 11 Oklahoma.
The Longhorns average 75.1 ppg. on 43.0 percent from the floor and 37.9 percent from behind the arc. The squad ranks second in the league with 42.5 rpg. and 6.1 bpg.
Senior Brittainey Raven averages a team high 14.9 ppg. to go with 4.8 rpg. Junior Kathleen Nash posts 12.5 ppg. on 46.8 percent shooting from the floor and pulls down a team best 6.8 rpg. Sophomore Ashleigh Fontenette joins the pair in double figures with 10.4 ppg. and a team high 3.4 apg.
Head Coach Gail Goestenkors is in her third season at the helm of the Longhorns and has a 62-34 record with the team.
LAST TIME VS. THE LONGHORNS
Texas used a 7-0 run in a span of four seconds to knot the game at 59-59 with 1:34 remaining and held on for the 62-59 victory over Missouri in the first round of the Big 12 Championship on March 12, 2009.
The Tigers build a 59-52 advantage after Bekah Mills made two free throws with 4:39 on the clock. Neither team could find the basket until the Longhorns used two freebies from Earnesia Williams with 1:37 left in the game. Williams then converted a three-point play after stealing the inbounds pass for a 59-57 Tiger lead with 1:34 left. Mizzou again committed a turnover on the inbounds play and Carla Cortijo hit a jumper to knot the score at 59-59.
The Longhorns took the lead with a basket from Brittainey Raven and used another free throw for the 62-59 victory.
Alyssa Hollins led Mizzou with 16 points and Jessra Johnson had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Shakara Jones chipped in 11.
LAST TIME OUT
The Missouri women's basketball team suffered a 67-51 defeat to the undefeated and No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers, 67-51, Saturday night at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Junior RaeShara Brown scored a game high 21 points to tie her career high, which she set just four days ago against Colorado. Senior Jessra Johnson added 13 points and junior Shakara Jones pulled down a team high seven rebounds.
BROWN POSTS CAREER WEEK
Junior RaeShara Brown had a career week in games against Colorado and No. 3 Nebraska. The guard notched a career high 21 points, four better than her previous high, to go with seven rebounds and three assists in a personal best 40 minutes against the Buffaloes. Four days later, Brown matched her career mark with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor and added two assists and two steals against the Huskers.
During the week, Brown averaged 21.0 ppg. and 5.0 rpg. on 51.7 percent (15-29) shooting from the floor, 44.4 percent (4-9) from behind the arc and 80.0 percent (8-10) from the free throw line in 39.0 mpg.
In her career, Brown has enjoyed playing Colorado, as she has averaged 15.0 ppg. against the Buffs in four games against the team the past two seasons. In her last four outings against Colorado, Brown has scored 21 points (Feb. 23, 2010), eight points (Jan. 9, 2010), 14 points (Feb. 28, 2009) and 17 points (Jan. 24, 2009), her previous career high.
TIGERS 12TH-BEST TURNOVER TEAM
Missouri has taken care of the ball well all season, as the team ranks 12th in the nation with just 14.3 turnovers per contest. Overall on the year, Mizzou has committed fewer turnovers than its opponents in 21 of 27 games.
The Tigers committed just six turnovers in the team's loss to Iowa State on Feb. 7. The total is the lowest of the season, besting the 10 given up against both Northern Iowa and the second meeting with Kansas.
The mark matched three other outputs of six turnovers for the Tigers since the 1992-93 season. The team committed just six against Nicholl's State on Dec. 11, 2005, Kansas on Feb. 7, 1999 and Kansas State on Jan. 10, 1993. You have to go all the way back to Jan. 30, 1988 for a lesser output, when the Tigers lost just four turnovers against Oklahoma State.
FREEBIES IMPROVING IN BIG 12 PLAY
The Tigers finished the non-conference schedule shooting just 62.6 percent (179-286) from the charity stripe in 13 games. Since that time, Mizzou has shot 73.0 percent (170-233) from the free throw line, an improvement of 10.4 percent.
The team ranks fifth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage in conference games only, behind Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado and Iowa State.
The turnaround has been an entire team effort. In Big 12 action, the six players who have attempted at least six free throws all are shooting at least 69.6 percent from the line: Amanda Hanneman - 83.3; Jessra Johnson - 77.6; RaeShara Brown - 75.0; Christine Flores - 73.6; Toy Richbow - 72.2; Shakara Jones - 69.6.
The team has increased its overall free throw percentage to 67.2 percent thanks to the deft shooting in league games.
BROWN ENTERS CAREER TOP-10
After entering MU's career top-10 in steals on Feb. 3, junior RaeShara Brown now sits in eighth-place on the all-time list with 187 career steals. She needs eight more to pass Stacy Williams for seventh-place. Just 61 steals away from Joni Davis' career record of 248, Brown seems destined to overtake the Tiger great next season.
The guard, who leads the Big 12 with 3.1 spg., has 84 steals so far this year. Her season total is tied for fourth all-time with Joni Davis. If Brown records three steals, she will move into third-place on the single-season list, passing Amanda Lassiter's 1999-2000 mark of 86.
JOHNSON POSTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Senior Jessra Johnson posted her second double-double of the season and 13th of her career with 17 points and 11 rebounds against Colorado on Feb. 23. She shot an impressive 81.8 percent (9-11) from the free throw line during the game
In only 10 minutes in the first half, Johnson scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
RICHBOW STEPS UP THE OFFENSE
Senior Toy Richbow set a slew of career highs against the Buffs on Feb. 23. The guard posted a personal best 12 points, one more than her previous high, in a career most 44 minutes of action. Richbow also set bests with seven free throws made on nine attempts.
She shot 50 percent from the floor on just 2-of-4 shooting but hit her only three-point attempt, a bucket that gave the Tigers a 59-47 cushion with 12:04 left in the second half.
Richbow also nabbed a game high three steals.
MIZZOU HOLDS ISU'S THREES AT BAY
Iowa State entered its matchup with the Tigers on Feb. 20 as the nation's leader in three-point field goal percentage (41.7) and eighth in threes made per game (8.5).
During the contest Mizzou held the Cyclones to a season low 15.4 percent (2-13) from behind the arc, better than the 16.4 percent Iowa State shot against Nebraska on Jan. 9. The Cyclones only managed two threes against Missouri, which tied a season low, also set against the Huskers.
TIGERS STRONG OFF THE BENCH
Mizzou has enjoyed strong bench play throughout the season with 29.9 percent of the team's scoring coming from the bench. Overall, the Tigers average 18.8 ppg. from the bench, compared to 11.9 for opponents.
Missouri's bench has outscored the opposing bench 20 times in 27 games this season, including 18 of the past 20 games.
Only four times this year has the Tigers' bench failed to score at least 10 points (six points against Florida State, eight points against Iowa State, four points at Iowa State and eight points at Nebraska).
Against Texas-Pan American, 54 of Missouri's 83 total points came from the bench, a season high.
BROWN 11TH NATIONALLY IN STEALS
Junior RaeShara Brown leads the Big 12 and ranks 11th nationally with 84 steals on the year for an average of 3.1 spg., 24 more than the next closest total in the conference. Her total is tied for the fourth-best single-season output in Tiger history. Most recently she grabbed two at Nebraska on Saturday.
Brown led the conference in steals last year with 2.7 spg. and 79 total on the year, which now stands as the eighth best single-season total in Tiger history.
JOHNSON MOVING UP SCORING LIST
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 now stands in 17th-place on the all-time scoring list with 1,216 after scoring 13 points at Nebraska. She needs three more points to pass Lisa Sandbothe (1,218) for 16th.
With 93 blocks in her career, Johnson also ranks ninth all-time on that list. Additionally, she could end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 673 in her career, she needs six rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.