Jan. 7, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (8-6) opens Big 12 Conference action on Saturday, Jan. 8 with a 4 p.m. contest against the No. 22/24 Texas Longhorns (11-3) at Mizzou Arena. The Longhorns hold a 19-1 edge in the all-time series and earned two wins over the Tigers last year, a 64-59 win in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on March 11 and a 60-41 win in Austin, Texas, on March 3. Missouri's lone win in the series was a 68-52 victory in Columbia on Jan. 6, 2001.

Prior to the contest Mizzou will host the Truman Club Winter Party. The party, open to children age 13, runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on the southwest concourse of Mizzou Arena.

The Truman Club Winter Party will include a bounce house, face painting, balloon artist and refreshments. Fans are asked to enter on the North side of the Arena.

UP NEXT
Mizzou travels to Lubbock, Texas, to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. The Tigers then return to Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Jan. 15 for an 11 a.m. game against the No. 7/5 Texas A&M Aggies, which will be televised live on FSN.

SCOUTING TEXAS
The Longhorns enter Mizzou Arena riding a six-game winning streak, with wins over SMU, UNLV, USF, Cincinnati, San Diego and Sam Houston State. All three of Texas' loses have at the hands of ranked foes this season, as they fell to No. 2/3 Stanford, No. 25 Michigan and No. 7/8 Tennessee. Texas leads the Big 12 with 86.9 ppg. but ranks 12th in giving up 65.9 ppg.

Senior Kathleen Nash leads four Longhorns who average double figures with 16.6 ppg., to go along with 8.1 rpg. Freshman Chassidy Fussell posts 15.8 ppg. and junior Ashleigh Fontenette adds 13.6 ppg. Junior Yvonne Anderson rounds out double figure scorers with 12.1 ppg.

Head Coach Gail Goestenkors is in her fourth season at Texas and has a 76-39 record with the team.

LAST TIME OUT
The University of Missouri women's basketball team suffered a 83-51 loss to the No. 9 Xavier Musketeers Wednesday night at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Senior RaeShara Brown paced the Tigers with 15 points and seven assists. Junior Christine Flores scored 14 points and pulled down a team high seven rebounds while senior Shakara Jones added 13 points and six rebounds.

TIGERS PLAYED TOUGH NON-CON
Mizzou played one of the Big 12's toughest non-conference schedules this season, as the Tigers played four teams ranked in the top-25.

MU'S four games ranked behind just Baylor's five games against top-25 foes. Iowa State and Texas each played three games, Kansas State played two and Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma one. Kansas, Texas Tech, Nebraska and Colorado did not face a ranked opponent.

Additionally, Missouri is one of only four Big 12 schools to earn a win over a top-25 opponent. Baylor recorded four wins against ranked teams, followed by Mizzou, Iowa State and Kansas State, which each had one. Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma went winless in its games against ranked foes.

FLORES EN FUEGO
Junior Christine Flores has been Mizzou's best offensive performer over the last few contests.

In the past five contests, Flores has averaged a team high 18.8 ppg. in games against UC Riverside, UAB, Florida State and Xavier. She also shot 49.2 percent from the floor (31-63) 61.5 percent from behind the arc (8-13) and 75.0 percent from the free throw line (24-32).

Flores ranks second on the team with 15. ppg. and is shooting 49.0 percent (77-157) from the floor, 45.2 percent (14-31) from the three-point line, and 75.4 percent (49-65), from the foul line on the season.

She has reached double figures in all but one game this season, a contest against Tennessee. Flores played 24 minutes against the Lady Vols but injured herself in the first half and played sparingly after.

BROWN PICKING UP THE ASSISTS
Senior RaeShara Brown is racking up the assists the past few games. Brown, who has upped her average to 5.0 apg., has compiled 23 assists in the last three games for a mark of 7.3 apg.

She has posted at least four assists in each of the last six games for a mark of 5.8 during that stretch.

THREES STARTING TO DROP
Over the last three games, Missouri's three-point field goal shooting has improved tremendously. The Tigers have shot 34.8 percent (24-69) from behind the arc in games against UC Riverside, UAB, Florida State and Florida State.

Prior to those four games, Mizzou shot just 24.0 percent (41-171) from the three-point line over its first 10 games of the year.

BROWN DISHES UP A STORM
Senior RaeShara Brown dished out a career high 12 assists against UAB on Dec. 29. The total, best in the Big 12 this season, was the most for a Tiger player in almost 17 years, when Amy Fordham had 13 against Texas Tech on March 16, 1994.

Brown also had 13 points in the game to record her fourth career double-double. Her 13 points and 12 rebounds marked the first points-assists double-double for Missouri in almost 19 years, when Fordham had 11 points and 11 assists against Oklahoma on Feb. 8, 1992.

JONES REACHES POINTS MILESTONE
Senior Shakara Jones became the 28th player in MU history to reach 1,000 points when the forward accomplished the feat against UC Riverside on Dec. 21. She now stands at 1,040 career points after notching 13 at Xavier.

Jones is averaging 9.5 ppg. in 2010-11 after posting marks of 10.5 ppg. as a freshman, 10.3 ppg. as a sophomore and 9.1 ppg. as a junior.

BROWN INCHES CLOSER TO STEALS MARK
With two steals against Xavier on Jan. 5, senior RaeShara Brown now has 225 in her career to rank third all-time at Missouri. She needs just 23 to tie former Tiger great Joni Davis as MU's all-time steals leader and is 17 away from tying Kerensa Barr for second 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.

BROWN NOW IN ASSISTS TOP-10
Senior RaeShara Brown's entered Mizzou career top-10 assists list after dishing out 12 against UAB on Dec. 29. After recording seven on Jan. 5 against Xavier, she stands in ninth-place on the list with 267. She needs 21 more to tie Julie Helm for eighth on the list.

Brown is averaging 5.0 apg. on the season. If she continues on her current pace, she should end her career with about 352 assists, which would rank fourth in Tiger history.

FLORES BLOCKING UP THE LIST
Junior Christine Flores stands in 10th-place on MU's all-time blocks list with 93 after a three-block performance against Xavier on Jan. 5. She needs eight to tie Jessra Johnson for ninth on the list.

Flores has 33 blocks so far this year to rank third in the Big 12 with 2.4 bpg. She has at least one block in all but two games.

Last year Flores posted 39 blocks to tie for 10th on MU's single-season list.

BLOCKS APLENTY
The Tigers recorded seven blocks against the inside-heavy Xavier Musketeers on Jan. 5. The total marked the fifth time this season Missouri recorded at least seven blocks in the game.

Comparatively, Mizzou posted seven or more blocks just four times in 2009-10, all within a five-game stretch.

For the year, Mizzou averages 5.3 bpg. Junior Christine Flores leads the charge with 2.4 bpg. to rank third in the conference.

CRAFTON COMES ALIVE OFFENSIVELY
Sophomore Sydney Crafton has become one of the Tigers' main offensive weapons this season. The guard, who scored a career high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting against UAB on Dec. 29, has reached double figures five times this season, including four of the last seven contests.

Crafton has started the last 11 games since Bekah Mills was lost for the year to a knee injury. She's averaging 8.4 ppg. and 6.5 rpg. in 29.5 mpg., while shooting 45.3 percent from the floor

Her play this season is impressive considering as a freshman last year, Crafton played a total of 23 minutes in six games, scoring seven points.

PINGETON FOUR AWAY FROM 350
Head Coach Robin Pingeton enters Sunday's contest with a career head coaching record of 346-163 and needs just four more wins to reach the 350 mark. Her 346 wins have come at both the NCAA Division I and NAIA Division II level. Pingeton compiled 194 wins at St. Ambrose (NAIA), 144 at Illinois State and eight so far at Missouri.

JONES BACK ON HER GAME
One of Mizzou's primary offensive stars since she stepped on campus four years ago, senior Shakara Jones did not assert herself offensively the first four games of the year. During the stretch, she averaged just 5.8 ppg. despite shooting 52.6 percent from the field.

In her last 10 games, Jones is averaging 11.0 ppg. and reached double figures in seven of those 10 games.

Against UAB on Dec. 29, Jones scored a season high 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.

On the season, Jones is averaing 9.5 ppg.