Feb. 11, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (11-12, 3-6 Big 12) travels to Norman, Okla., on Saturday, Feb. 12 to face the No. 14/12 Oklahoma Sooners at 2 p.m. The game will be televised locally in Oklahoma and will be available on ESPN Full Court and online at ESPN3.com. Missouri holds a slim 29-26 edge in the all-time series but suffered a close 62-61 loss to Oklahoma last season.
UP NEXT
Missouri returns to Mizzou Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 16 to host the Oklahoma State Cowgirls (13-8, 1-7) at 7 p.m. in the WBCA Pink Zone® game, a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners enter Saturday's matchup with a 17-6 overall record and a 7-3 mark in Big 12 Conference play, good for third-place in the league standings so far.
Senior Danielle Robinson paces the Sooners with 19.7 ppg., 5.1 apg. and 2.7 spg. on the season. Freshman Aaryn Ellenberg is having a breakout season as she ranks second on the squad with 17.4 ppg. and shoots 42.6 percent from behind the arc. Redshirt sophomore Whitney Hand, who has only played in 11 games so far this year after missing the beginning of the season recovering from a knee injury, contributes 13.0 ppg.
Head Coach Sherri Coale is in her 15th season at Oklahoma and has a 330-149 record with the team.
LAST TIME OUT
The University of Missouri women's basketball team led by as many as 12 in the second half but could not hold on as the Kansas State Wildcats earned a comeback 60-55 overtime victory Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
With Mizzou leading by 12 points, 47-35, the Wildcats reeled off a 13-1 run, thanks to four consecutive three-pointers by Brittany Chambers, to cut Missouri's advantage to 49-48 and 3:42 left.
Junior Christine Flores hit one-of-two free throws with 3:04 remaining to put the Tigers on top 50-48 but Kansas State used a layup from Mariah White at the 1:35 mark to knot the score at 50-50. Neither team managed to score in the final minute of regulation to send the contest to overtime.
A layup from sophomore Sydney Crafton gave the Tigers a 52-50 advantage with 3:15 left but Kansas State scored the next eight points to build a 58-52 lead and 27 seconds on the clock. Brown nailed a three-pointer 11 seconds later to make it a one possession game but the Wildcats hit two free throws and Mizzou could not find the bottom of the basket as Kansas State pulled out the 60-55 overtime victory.
BROWN TIES STEALS RECORD
With three steals against Kansas State on Feb. 5, senior RaeShara Brown tied Missouri's all-time record with 248 in her career. Brown, who is tied with former Tiger great Joni Davis, needs just one more to break the career mark.
Brown 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.
PINGETON ONE AWAY FROM 350
Head Coach Robin Pingeton enters Saturday's contest with a career head coaching record of 349-169 and needs just three more wins to reach the 350 mark. Her 349 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 11 so far at Missouri.
JONES FINISHING SENIOR SEASON STRONG
Senior Shakara Jones has been one of the Tigers' most consistent offensive weapons this year. The forward ranks third on the team at 10.3 ppg. and has already reached double figures a career high 16 times this year (her previous high was 15, set her freshman and sophomore seasons).
Jones started off the season up and down but has been a constant for the last two months of the season. In MU's first nine games, she averaged just 8.2 ppg. and 5.4 rpg. However, since the contest against NJIT on Dec. 19, Jones has averaged 11.7 ppg. and 6.4 rpg.
During the last 14 games, she has reached double figures 12 times, second only to RaeShara Brown's 13.
TOUGH ROAD
The Tigers enter Saturday's game with a 11-12 overall record despite playing one of the nation's toughest schedules to this point. As of Feb. 8, Mizzou's strength of schedule (SOS) ranks eighth in the nation by RealTimeRPI.com.
Missouri's SOS trails just Duke, Connecticut, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Stanford, Ohio State and Baylor. It is ahead of such perenial powers as, Notre Dame (24) and Michigan State (57).
CRAFTON HAS CAREER GAME AGAINST NU
Sophomore Sydney Crafton was on her game in MU's win over the Huskers on Feb. 2. The guard recorded her second career double-double with a career high 19 points and a personal best tying 12 rebounds.
Crafton scored 17 of her points in the first 20 minutes on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor. The first half output bettered her previous career high of 16 points, which she posted against UAB on Dec. 29.
She previously recorded 12 rebounds against Georgia Tech on Nov. 27.
BROWN LEADS MU DOWN THE STRETCH
Senior RaeShara Brown was unstoppable in the final minutes of Missouri's win over Nebraska on Feb. 2. The guard scored 22 of her team high 25 points in the second half, including 12 straight points for the Tigers with less than three minutes remaining.
With Mizzou holding a slim 61-60 lead, Brown started her points spree from a jumper and 2:57 left in the game. During the stretch, which included two shot clock buzzer beaters and four free throws, Missouri increased its lead to seven points, 73-66, and 29 seconds remaining.
THORNTON PROVIDING KEY DEPTH
Sophomore Trenee Thornton has upped her scoring in recent games, thanks in part to increased minutes. She did not score against Kansas State on Feb. 5 but in the four games before that, the guard averaged 5.8 ppg. after outputs of seven points (Nebraska), six (Kansas) and five (Colorado and Iowa State). In the first 16 games she played this year before the Colorado contest, Thornton averaged just 0.9 ppg.
She has also seen her playing time jump dramatically since Big 12 play started. She averaged 9.9 mpg. in Mizzou's 14 non-conference contests and has played 20.3 mpg. in the Tigers' nine conference games.
REIGNING IN THE TURNOVERS
The Tigers entered the Jan. 19 game averaging 18.5 turnovers per game, including outputs of 26 and 27 against Texas Tech and Texas A&M on Jan. 12 and 15, respectively.
Missouri has managed to hold on to the ball in its last six games, committing just 13.2 turnovers during the span.The team committed just 12 turnovers in consecutive games against Kansas State on Jan. 19 and Colorado on Jan. 22, 15 against Kansas on Jan. 26, 14 at Iowa State on Jan. 29 and a season low 10 against Nebraska on Feb. 2.
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 1,145 career points after notching 11 points against Nebraska to rank 21st all-time. She needs 17 more points to pass Kerensa Barr (00-03) and move into 20th.
Jones is averaging 10.3 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 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 one on Feb. 5 against Kansas State, she stands in seventh-place on the list with 305. She needs 10 more to tie Natalie Bright for sixth on the list.
Brown is averaging 4.7 apg. on the season. If she continues on her current pace, she should end her career with about 349 assists, which would rank fourth in Tiger history.
FLORES BLOCKING UP THE LIST
Junior Christine Flores stands in eighth-place on MU's all-time blocks list with 109 after a two-block performance against Kansas State on Feb. 5. She needs seven more to tie Stretch James (03-04) for seventh on the list.
Flores has 49 blocks so far this year, which ranks seventh on MU's single-season list. She needs four more to tie Mary Brueggestrass (82-83) for sixth on the list with 53.