Nov. 6, 2010

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team concludes exhibition action on Sunday, Nov. 7 with a 2 p.m. exhibition contest against the Oklahoma City Stars at Mizzou Arena. Admission and parking to the contest are free.

UP NEXT
The Tigers officially open the 2010-11 season on Friday, Nov. 12 in a road contest at Memphis at 5 p.m. Mizzou then travels to Charleston, Ill., to face Eastern Illinois on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA CITY
The Stars are coming off an impressive 32-4 season a year ago, including a 26-game winning streak, when the team advanced to the semifinals of the NAIA Division I Tournament. The squad went 22-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference action and earned a share of the regular season title.

Oklahoma City returns five players and two starters from last year's team. Senior Donica Cosby was an All-American a year ago after averaging 13.9 ppg., 4.0 apg., 2.9 spg. and 2.0 spg. as a junior. 2010 All-America honorable mention selection Starr Fairbanks is also back after a junior campaign where the center posted marks of 13.5 ppg., 4.7 rpg. and shot 58.4 percent from the floor.

Head Coach Rob Edmisson is in his sixth season at Oklahoma City and has a 150-26 record with the squad.

LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers recorded a 67-60 exhibition victory over Missouri Western on Tuesday in the team's first action of the season. The Tigers used a game high 25 points from junior Christine Flores in Robin Pingeton's debut as head coach.

The Griffons led 32-26 at the break but Mizzou's offense came to life in the second half, outscoring Missouri Western 41-28 in the final 20 minutes.

Flores shot 10-of-19 from the field, including 2-of-4 from behind the arc, in 27 minutes for the Tigers. Senior RaeShara Brown had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, to go along with a game high six assists. Freshman Paige Spietz made three of her four shot attempts to finish with seven points and senior Jasmyn Otote nabbed four steals.

The Tigers outscored the Griffons 34-10 in the paint and 24-3 in second chance points.

MIZZOU IN EXHIBITION GAMES
Missouri enters its game against Missouri Western on a 11-game winning streak in exhibition contests, which includes Tuesday's 67-60 win over Missouri Western.

Last season Mizzou posted an 80-59 win over Central Missouri. Shakara Jones had 16 points while Kendra Frazier and BreAnna Brock had 12 and 10, respectively. Additionally, RaeShara Brown pulled down a team high six rebounds.

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.

Big 12 Preseason Poll
1. Baylor (11) 121
2. Texas A&M (1) 109
3. Oklahoma 97
4. Texas 88
5. Iowa State 85
6. Kansas 64
7. Nebraska 58
8. Oklahoma State 50
9. Kansas State 40
10. Texas Tech 39
11. Missouri 26
12. Colorado 15

PINGETON DEBUTS AT MU
The Tigers are under new leadership in 2010-11 as Head Coach Robin Pingeton made her Missouri debut Tuesday against Missouri Western. 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.

JONES NEARING CENTURY MARK
Senior Shakara Jones enters the 2010-11 season with 907 points in her career, just 93 shy of the century 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.

BROWN SETS SIGHT ON STEALS MARK
Junior RaeShara Brown has compiled 191 steals in three-year career and needs just 58 to move past former Tiger great Joni Davis to stand alone as MU's all-time steals leader. Her 191 steals currently rank eighth in the Tiger record book.

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 in Mizzou's single-season list.

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.

TIGERS ADD FOUR NEWCOMERS
Missouri added four newcomers, including two Missouri natives, to its roster in 2019-11: 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.

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).

MIZZOU TO PLAY IN PARADISE JAM
The Tigers end the month of November by traveling to St. Thomas, USVI, to play in the Reef Division of the 11th annual Paradise Jam, held at the University of the Virgin Islands' U.V. I. Sports and Fitness Center in Charlotte Amalie.

Mizzou opens play on Thursday, Nov. 25 against No. 4 Tennessee, followed by games against No. 13 Georgetown and Georgia Tech on Friday, Nov. 26 and Saturday, Nov. 27, respectively.