Missouri to Face No. 4 Tennessee Thursday at Paradise Jam
11/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2010
Complete Notes 
ST THOMAS, Virgin Islands - The University of Missouri women's basketball team travels to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to compete in the 11th annual Paradise Jam, Nov. 25-27. Missouri, will play in the Reef Division and face No. 4 Tennessee on Thursday, Nov. 25, No. 12 Georgetown on Friday, Nov. 26 and Georgia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 27. All games tip off at 6:45 p.m. AST (4:45 p.m. CST) and will be played at the Sports and Fitness Center on the campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.
PARADISE JAM GAMES STREAMED ONLINE
All of Missouri's game at the Paradise Jam will be streamed online by Fox College Sports for a one-time fee of $4.99. Brenda VanLengen will call play-by-play for the webcasts.
SCOUTING TENNESSEE
The Lady Vols are a perfect 4-0 on the season and are coming off a 80-64 victory over Arizona State on Sunday. The team also has wins over Lousiville (63-50), Chattanooga (103-43) and Virginia (85-73).
Freshman Meighan Simmons leads the Lady Vols with 17.5 ppg. in less than 22 minutes per contest. Three other players also average double-figures: juniors Angie Bjorklund (14.0) and Shekinna Stricklen (12.3) and sophomore Taber Spani (10.0). Junior Glory Johnson grabs a team high 8.8 rebounds per game.
Head Coach Pat Summitt is in her 37th season at Tennessee and has a 1,037-196 record with the team.
LAST MEETING
Mizzou and Tennessee last met on Dec. 9, 1978 in the championship game of the Mid-America Classic in Columbia, Mo, with the No. 1 Lady Vols picking up a 74-61 win over Missouri.
Tennessee led by 10, 57-47, in the second half but the Tigers roared back to get within one, 59-58, with 6:07 left to play. But the Lady Vols scored the five points to halt Mizzou's run and held on for the victory.
Jennie Skimbo led the Tigers with 17 points while Tennessee's Cindry Brogdon scored a game high 22.
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN
The Hoyas boast a 3-0 record heading into the Paradise Jam. The team has notched wins over Augusta State (79-41), Maryland 53-45 and La Salle (50-46).
Five players averaged at least 7.7 ppg. for the Hoyas, led by sophomore Sugar Rogers' 14.7 ppg. Junior Tommacina McBride paces the team with 5.7 rpg. and Rubylee Wright dishes out 4.3 apg.
Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy is in her seventh season at Georgetown and has a 99-84 record with the team.
SCOUTING georgia tech
The Yellow Jackets have already played five games this season and sport a 3-2 record. The squad has picked up wins over Georgia State (66-56), Kennesaw State (79-60) and Prairie View A&M (61-37) and fallen to Old Dominion (65-63) and No. 1 UConn (71-51).
Freshman Tyaunna Marshall paces the Yellow Jackets with 14.8 ppg. Senior Alex Montgomery nearly averages a double-double with 12.8 ppg. and a team high 9.4 rpg.
Head Coach MaChelle Joseph is in her eighth season at Georgia Tech and has a 132-88 record with the team.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri used a 21-7 second half run to erase a 14-point deficit but fell to Eastern Illinois 81-73 on Nov. 14 in Charleston, Ill.
Junior Christine Flores scored a career high 28 points to go along with seven rebounds. Senior RaeShara Brown recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and dished out a career best eight assists and nabbed five steals. Sophomore Sydney Crafton also notched a career high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting
BROWN NARROWLY MISSES TRIPLE-DOUBLE
Senior RaeShara Brown narrowly missed her first career triple-double against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 14. The guard scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out a career high eight assists against the Panthers. Before the game with EIU, the closest she had gotten to a triple-double was against Northern Iowa on Nov. 15, 2009, when she had 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Brown's 14 points and 11 rebounds marked her first career double-double and the third already for the Tigers this season.
FLORES LEADS SECOND HALF CHARGE
Junior Christine Flores exploded for a career high 28 points, 26 of which came in the second half against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 14. The output bested her old mark by nine points (19 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Xavier).
The forward made just one basket in the first 20 minutes but was all over the court in the second half. Flores was instrumental in Mizzou's rally, scoring the first six points of a 17-4 Tiger run that brought Missouri within one, 49-48, after the team trailed by 14. She also sank two three-pointers in the contest to set a new career high.
For the season, Flores leads the Tigers and ranks third in the Big 12 with 20.5 ppg. while averaging 10.0 rpg.
CRAFTON HAS CAREER DAY
Sophomore Sydney Crafton set all kinds of career highs in Mizzou's game with Eastern Illinois on Nov. 14. The guard scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor against the Panthers. The scoring output bested her old mark of three points set on Dec. 10, 2009 against Texas-Pan American.
Crafton also recorded four rebounds and four assists, also personal highs, in a career best 27 minutes of play.
TIGERS DOUBLE UP
Senior Shakara Jones and junior Christine Flores both recorded double-doubles in MU's win over Memphis on Nov. 12.
The double-double was the sixth of Jones' career as the forward posted 11 points and a career high tying 14 rebounds. Her rebound mark matched the output Jones recorded in her first career game with the Tigers against Murray State.
Flores had 13 points and 13 rebounds for her fourth career double-double, the previous three of which she posted last season as a sophomore.
BROWN GETS OFFENSIVE
Senior RaeShara Brown was all over the court in the Tigers' 67-40 win over Memphis on Friday. The guard scored a game high 19 points, two points off her career best on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor. Brown also dished out a game high five assists (as did junior Bekah Mills), grabbed six rebounds and nabbed two steals.
TIGERS ALL OVER THE BOARDS
Missouri grabbed an impressive 54 rebounds against Memphis on Friday, including 16 on the offensive end. The Tigers ended the game with a +21 rebounding margin, tied for tops among Big 12 schools after one game.
This marked the first time Missouri recorded at least 50 rebounds since the team notched 54 in a triple-overtime loss to Holy Cross on Nov. 29, 2008. The last time Mizzou had at least 50 rebounds in a regulation game as against Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 8, 2007, when the team had 52.
BROWN INCHES CLOSER TO STEALS MARK
Junior RaeShara Brown has compiled 198 steals in her career and needs just 51 to move past former Tiger great Joni Davis and stand alone as MU's all-time steals leader. Her 198 steals currently rank sixth in the Tiger record book and needs six more to tie Amy Fordham for fith on the list.
Brown has led the Big 12 in steals the last two seasons, after outputs of 88 a year ago and 79 during her sophomore season. The totals rank third and eighth on Mizzou's single-season list.
JONES NEARING POINTS MILESTONE
Senior Shakara Jones is sitting on 922 points in her career, just 78 shy of the millennium mark. Assuming the forward accomplishes the feat this season, she will become just the 28th player in Mizzou history to score at least 1,000 points.
Jones has a 10.0 ppg. average in her three-year career, after posting marks of 10.5 ppg. as a freshman, 10.3 ppg. as a sophomore and 9.1 ppg. as a junior.
PINGETON IN HER FIRST SEASON
The Tigers are under new leadership in 2010-11 as Head Coach Robin Pingeton was hired to lead the Tiger program on April 8, 2010 after seven successful years at the head coach at Illinois State.
With the Redbirds, Pingeton amassed a 144-81 (.640) record and brought the Redbird program back to national prominence. During her tenure, she led the school to three straight Missouri Valley Conference Regular Season titles, two State Farm Missouri Valley Tournament championships, a school-best four straight 20-win seasons, two NCAA Tournament berths and three WNIT appearances en route to Missouri Valley Coach of the Year honors in 2004 and 2010. Over the past three seasons, Pingeton compiled an 81-23 (.779) mark to put together the best three-year span in Illinois State history.
Tigers picked 11th in preseason poll
Mizzou was selected to finish 11th in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches' Poll, released by the conference on Oct. 7. Baylor was chosen to win the league, followed by Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
MILLS, GEE RETURN TO THE COURT
Redshirt junior Bekah Mills and junior Bailey Gee return to the court this year after recovering from knee injuries suffered last season.
Mills missed the 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons to ACL injuries, suffering her last injury in the preseason last year. She played all but one game as a redshirt freshman in 2008-09 and posted 5.9 ppg., 3.2 rpg. and 2.2 apg.
Gee tore her ACL in January 2010 after seeing action in eight games to start the year. She averaged 4.5 ppg. in 8.6 mpg. before the injury.
FRESH FACES
Missouri added four newcomers, including two Missouri natives, to its roster in 2010-11: freshmen Maggie Flynn, Tori Niemann, Paige
Spietz and Kishaun Williams.
Flynn, who hails from Troy, Mo., comes to the Tigers after playing prep ball at Troy Buchanan High School. She recorded 1,334 points, 792 rebounds and 389 blocks in her prep career and holds Troy Buchanan records in career field goals made (529), blocks (389) and blocks in a game (13). Flynn earned spots on the 2009 and 2010 all-state teams and was the 2009 and 2010 Lincoln County Player of the Year.
Canton, Mo., native Tori Neimann helped Canton High School to a 25-7 record as a senior after averaging 23.2 ppg., 11.0 apg. and 3.5 spg. Neimann was an all-state first team selection as as senior and junior and earned a spot on the second team as a sophomore. She compiled averages of 19.2 ppg. and 9.1 rpg. in her career.
Spietz, a native of Brimfield, Ill., earned Associated Press, Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois Basketball Services and Champaign News-Gazette all-state first team honors in 2010. She averaged 17.8 ppg. 8.3 rpg. and 2.1 apg. as a senior and 19.1 ppg. and 7.8 rpg. in her career.
Williams comes to the Tigers after playing her prep basketball at Captial High School in her hometown of Baton Rouge, La. The guard averaged 18.0 ppg., 8.0 rpg., 5.0 apg. and 5.0 spg. in her four-year career. As a senior year ago, Williams helped lead Capital to a 28-4 record after posting 22.0 ppg., 10.0 rpg., 5.0 apg. and 5.0 spg.
TIGERS INK TWO SIGNEES
Two prep standouts have signed National Letters of Intent to enroll at the University of Missouri and play basketball, Head Coach Robin Pingeton announced. The signing class includes Bree Fowler, a 5-10 wing from Kansas City, Mo., and Kyley Simmons, a 5-7 guard from Council Bluffs, Iowa.
A native of Kansas City, Bree Fowler plays for Coach Melissa Krog Savaiinaea at Staley High School. She helped the Lady Falcons to a 20-8 record a year ago and advance to the Class 4A quarterfinals in only the program's second season. Fowler averaged 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds as a junior, en route to spots on the Missouri Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Class 4A All-State second team, Kansas City Star All-Northland Conference first team, in addition to all-district first team accolades in 2010. Fowler played at Oak Park High School as a freshman and is a member of the Missouri Valley Blazers club team.
As a junior last season under Coach Chris Hanafan, Simmons helped lead Lewis Central High School to an 18-5 and an appearance in the regional finals. The point guard averaged 16.5 points and led Class 4A in assists (6.2) steals (4.7) during the 2009-10 season. Her efforts earned Simmons spots on the Iowa Newspaper Association Class 4A All-State second team and Iowa Girls Coaches Association All-State third team. Additionally, Simmons is a two-time All-Hawkeye Ten Conference first team honoree. She also holds Lewis Central records for points in a game (34), steals in a game (12), assists in a game (11) and points in a season (380). Simmons plays club basketball for the Cornhusker Shooting Stars Bison/Judds team.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN NOVEMBER
After two home exhibition contests at home, the Tigers hit the road for seven straight games away from Mizzou Arena to open the 2010-11 season. Missouri opens the year with away games at Memphis and Eastern Illinois, neutral site games against Tennessee, Georgetown and Georgia Tech in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands and two more road contests at Ball State and Northwestern before hosting a home game.
The Tigers finally open the home slate on Tuesday, Dec. 7 as the team hosts UT Martin at
7 p.m.
TIGERS FACE TOUGH SLATE IN 2010-11
Mizzou faces a demanding schedule in 2010-11, a slate scattered with teams that made the postseason a year ago.
Overall, the Tigers will play two of last year's Final Four participants, Baylor and Oklahoma, two more teams who advanced to the Elite Eight, Florida State and Xavier, and nine other teams that earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament field. Mizzou also faces four schools that competed in the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) a year ago. Overall, 20 of Mizzou's 30 regular season contests come against teams that reached the postseason in 2010-11.
Additionally, Missouri has 10 games scheduled against teams ranked in the top-20 of the preseason AP poll: Baylor (No. 2), Tennessee (No. 4), Xavier (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 8), Oklahoma (No. 10), Georgetown (No. 13), Texas (No. 17), Florida State (No. 18) and Iowa State (No. 20).
