March 4, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (12-17, 4-11) wraps up the regular season on Saturday, March 5 when the team hosts the No. 23/25 Iowa State Cyclones at 4 p.m. at Mizzou Arena. Prior to the game, Missouri will honor RaeShara Brown, Shakara Jones, Bekah Mills and Jasmyn Otote for their contributions to the women's basketball program.
The Tigers hold a 45-26 edge in the all-time series but the Cyclones have won the last eight meetings.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will travel to Kansas City, Mo., for the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Municipal Auditorium next week. Mizzou will open play with a first round game Tuesday, March 8. Game time and opponent will be decided following Big 12 games on Saturday.
SCOUTING IOWA STATE
The Cyclones enter Mizzou Arena with a 21-8 overall record and a 9-6 mark in Big 12 play. The team is riding a four-game winning streak, dating back to a 71-45 win over Colorado on Feb. 19. During the span, the Cyclones also have wins over Texas (66-57 in OT), at Kansas State (58-51) and Nebraska (72-36).
Senior Kelsey Bolte leads the squad with 17.6 ppg., to go along with 5.3 rpg. The guard is shooting an impressive 44.7 percent from the three-point arc and 90.2 percent from the charity stripe. Bolte is the only Iowa State play in double figures but four others average at least 8.7 ppg. Freshman Hallie Christofferson and sophomore Anna Prins post 9.5 ppg., sophomore Chelsea Poppins adds 8.8 ppg. and a team high 7.1 rpg. and junior Lauren Mansfield scores 8.7 ppg.
Head Coach Bill Fennelly is in his 16th season at Iowa State and has a 353-157 record with the team.
LAST TIME OUT
The University of Missouri women's basketball suffered a 84-52 loss to the No. 3 Baylor Bears Wednesday night in Waco, Texas.
Senior RaeShara Brown led the Tigers with 17 points, six steals and four assists. She was joined in double figures by classmate Shakara Jones, who added 10 points. Junior Christine Flores dished out a career high seven assists.
TOUGH ROAD
The Tigers enter Saturday's game with a 12-17 overall record despite playing one of the nation's toughest schedules to this point. As of March 4, Mizzou's strength of schedule (SOS) ranks ninth in the nation by RealTimeRPI.com. Missouri's SOS trails just Texas A&M, Duke, Connecticut, Tennessee, Ohio State, Baylor, Stanford and Rutgers.
Below is a list of Big 12 teams' SOS, along with Ratings Percent Index (RPI), based on wins and losses and SOS.
| SOS | RPI | |
| Texas A&M | 1 | 5 |
| Baylor | 6 | 4 |
| Missouri | 9 | 86 |
| Texas | 10 | 34 |
| Oklahoma | 15 | 21 |
| Nebraska | 26 | 114 |
| Iowa State | 28 | 22 |
| Texas Tech | 32 | 29 |
| Kansas State | 52 | 43 |
| Oklahoma State | 68 | 116 |
| Colorado | 74 | 121 |
| Kansas | 77 | 72 |
BROWN DOING IT ALL
Senior RaeShara Brown leads the Tigers in most statistical categories, including points, assists, steals and minutes played, while ranking third in rebounds. Overall, she accounts for at least 15 percent of Mizzou's points, rebounds, assists and steals, with most contributions much larger.
Below is a breakdown:
| Big 12 | Overall | |
| Points | 30.6% | 28.3% |
| Rebounds | 13.7% | 15.3% |
| Assists | 37.8% | 38.6% |
| Steals | 45.2% | 43.2% |
Additionally, Brown has contributed just about half of Missouri's made field goals this season, when combining both field goals made and assists:
Overall: 172 FGM + 129 Asts = 301 FG 301 FG / 630 total team FG = 47.8%
Big 12: 96 FGM + 59 Asts = 155 FG 155 FG / 310 total team FG = 50.0%
PINGETON EARNS 350TH VICTORY
Head Coach Robin Pingeton claimed her 350th career head coaching victory in Missouri's win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 16. In her 16th season as a head coach, she has a career record of 350-174 coming at both the NCAA Division I and NAIA Division II level. Pingeton compiled 194 wins at St. Ambrose (NAIA), 144 at Illinois State and 12 so far at Missouri.
BROWN APPROACHING 1,000 POINTS
Senior RaeShara Brown enters Saturday's game with 995 points in her career, just five shy of 1,000. Assuming she reaches the milestone, she will become the second player this year (joining Shakara Jones) and the 29th player in MU history to reach the mark.
Almost half of her 995 career points have come in her senior season, as she has compiled 489 so far this year. Her point total in 2010-11 is 49.1 percent of her career total after posting 33 points as a freshman, 181 as a sophomore and 292 as a junior.
PINGETON MAKING HER MARK
Robin Pingeton is one of 35 head coaches in their first season at a new Division I basketball program. She is also one of just two of those 35 to have two wins over ranked opponents this season, joining Colorado's Linda Lappe. Pingeton's Tigers have wins over No. 12 Georgetown and No. 22 Texas, while Lappe's Buffs have wins over No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 16 Iowa State.
Only one other coach in his/her first year at a school has recorded a win over a ranked opponent so far this season: Houston's Todd Buchanan, whose team defeated then-No. 21 Nebraska on Dec. 18.
BROWN MU'S ALL-TIME STEALS LEADER
Senior RaeShara Brown broke Missouri's all-time steals record in the Tigers' contest against Oklahoma on Feb. 12. Brown, who entered the game tied with former Tiger great Joni Davis at 248, broke the record after stealing the ball away from Danielle Robinson with 18:49 remaining in the game. After six steals against Baylor, she upped her career total to 267.
Her career total also ranks her 12th all-time in Big 12 history. She needs one more to tie Texas Tech's Jia Perkins for 11th (268) and two more to tie Texas A&M's Danielle Gant (269) for 10th place. 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.
Her current season total of 76 is just one steal shy of tieing for ninth on Mizzou's single-season list.
FLORES DISHES THE ASSISTS AT BAYLOR
Junior Christine Flores handed out a career high seven assists in MU's game at Baylor on March 2. The total bested her old personal best of five, which she posted at Northwestern on Dec. 5. The seven assists also stands as the most by anyone on the team besides senior RaeShara Brown and tied for the fifth-best total of the season (Brown games of 12, nine, eight, eight and seven assists) this year.
THORNTON PROVIDING KEY DEPTH
Sophomore Trenee Thornton has upped her scoring in recent games, thanks in part to increased minutes. She has scored in 10 of the last 11 games and averaged 6.2 ppg. during those contests. Additionally, in four of the last five games, Thornton has scored at least nine points (10 against Oklahoma State, nine against Kansas, Nebraska and Baylor). 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 24.4 mpg. in the Tigers' 15 conference games.
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 1,185 career points after notching 10 points against Colorado to rank 20th all-time. She needs two more points to pass LaToya Bond (02-05) and move into 19th.
Jones is averaging 9.6 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 four on March 2 against Baylor, she ranks fourh on the list with 326.
Additionally, Brown now has 129 assists so far this season. Her total ranks eighth on MU's single-season list. She needs two more to tie Eileen Keene (85-86) for seventh with 129.
FLORES BLOCKING UP THE LIST
Junior Christine Flores stands in eighth-place on MU's all-time blocks list with 111 after notching a block against Nebraska on Feb. 22. She needs five more to tie Stretch James (03-04) for seventh on the list.
Flores has 51 blocks so far this year, which ranks seventh on MU's single-season list. She needs two more to tie Mary Brueggestrass (82-83) for sixth on the list with 53.