Feb. 12, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team returns home to host No. 3 Nebraska on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1 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. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 500 fans and $2 discount will be given to anyone wearing pink. All proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Kay Yow Foundation.
Nebraska holds a 37-30 advantage in the all-time series, including a 65-52 victory over Mizzou on Feb. 21 in Lincoln, Neb.
UP NEXT
The Tigers next hit the court on Saturday, Feb. 20 when the team travels to Ames, Iowa to take on No. 20/17 Iowa State at 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA
One of only two undefeated teams in the nation, Nebraska enters Mizzou Arena with a perfect 22-0 record and a 9-0 mark in Big 12 Conference action. The Huskers have four wins over top-10 teams: No. 5 LSU (77-63), No. 9 Baylor (65-56), No. 10 Oklahoma State (88-67) and No. 10 Texas A&M (71-60).
NU averages a league best 78.6 ppg., which also ranks eighth nationally. The team's 46.6 field goal percentage is fifth in the country and the Huskers hold opponents to 24.3 percent shooting from behind the arc to rank second nationally.
Senior Kelsey Griffin leads the charge with 19.3 ppg. and 10.0 rpg. The forward has a conference best 12 double-doubles this season, including 12 in Big 12 play. Three other players join Griffin in double figures, led by senior Cory Montgomery's 12.8 ppg. Senior Yvonne Turner posts 12.5 ppg. on 42.3 shooting from behind the arc, while junior Dominique Kelley adds 12.2 ppg. Freshman Lindsey Moore dishes out 4.7 apg. and has an assist/turnover ratio of 2.0.
Head Coach Connie Yori is in her ninth season at the helm of the Huskers and has a 143-97 record with the team.
LAST TIME VS. THE HUSKERS
Jessra Johnson recorded her third double-double of the year with 23 points and 11 rebounds but Missouri suffered a 65-52 loss to Nebraska on Saturday, Feb. 21 in Lincoln, Neb.
Shakara Jones and Alyssa Hollins joined Johnson in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Tigers committed a season low eight turnovers in the contest.
LAST TIME OUT
Mizzou fell to the Kansas State Wildcats, 37-33, Wednesday night in Manhattan, Kan.
Down 35-31, senior Jessra Johnson hit a jumper with 17.3 seconds remaining to bring the Tigers within two points, 35-33. Kansas State made one-of-two free throws to give Mizzou a chance to tie on their final possession but the team was unable to get a three-point attempt off in the waning seconds.
Sophomore Christine Flores led the Tigers with 11 points and eight rebounds.
A basket from Flores against cut the Tiger deficit to two, 23-21, before the Wildcats used a jumper from Shalin Spani and a triple from Taelor Karr for a 38-21 advantage with 9:47 left. Missouri responded with two free throws from Flores, a driving layup from Brown and a layup from Flores for a 28-27 game with 7:30 remaining.
The Tigers went to Flores again with 5:52 on the clock as the sophomore converted another layup as Mizzou took its first lead since early in the first frame, 29-28. Kansas State regained its lead two minutes later with a jumper from Karr then used a three from Karr on its next possession as the home team went up 33-29 with 3:20 left in the contest.
Flores was fouled with 2:21 on the clock and made both free throws for a two-point game, 33-31, but the Wildcats responded again with a jumper to take a 35-31 advantage with 1:52 on the clock.
FLORES BIG LATE AGAINST WILDCATS
Sophomore Christine Flores was a force in the second half of Mizzou's game with Kansas State on Feb. 10. With the Tigers trailing 23-19 with 12:00 minutes left in the game, she scored 10 of the Tigers' next 12 points.
Flores first found the basket with a jumper to cut Mizzou's deficit to 23-21. After the Wildcats built a seven-point advantage, the Tigers reeled off eight straight points, with six from Flores, to take their first lead of the second half, 29-28, with 5:56 left in the game. Her final points of the game again brought Missouri within two, 33-31, with 2:23 remaining.
Over the final 12 minutes of the game, Flores was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and made 4-of-6 attempts from the charity stripe.
TIGERS 12TH-BEST TURNOVER TEAM
Missouri has taken care of the ball well all season, as the team ranks 12th in the nation with just 14.3 turnovers per contest.
The Tigers committed just six turnovers in the team's loss to Iowa State on Feb. 7. The total is the lowest of the season, besting the 10 given up against both Northern Iowa and the second meeting with Kansas.
The mark matched three other outputs of six turnovers for the Tigers since the 1992-93 season. The team committed just six against Nicholl's State on Dec. 11, 2005, Kansas on Feb. 7, 1999 and Kansas State on Jan. 10, 1993. You have to go all the way back to Jan. 30, 1988 for a lesser output, when the Tigers lost just four turnovers against Oklahoma State.
BROWN ENTERS CAREER TOP-10
Junior RaeShara Brown moved into 10th place on MU's career steals list against Texas A&M on Feb. 3 and is now tied for ninth with 177 career steals. She needs eight more to pass Amanda Lassier for eighth place. Just 72 steals away from Joni Davis' career record of 248, Brown seems destined to overtake the Tiger great sometime next season.
The guard, who leads the Big 12 with 3.2 spg., has 71 steals so far this year, needs just five more to pass Kerensa Barr for 10th on the MU single season list. Brown already owns the seventh-best total is Tiger history, as she swiped 79 a season ago.
SECOND HALF SQUAD
In nine of 10 Big 12 Conference games, Missouri has scored more points in the second half than the first half. The team's one exception was the game with Kansas State on Jan. 13.
In those seven games, the Tigers have scored 289 points in the second half compared to 195 points in the first frame.
BROWN 10TH NATIONALLY IN STEALS
Junior RaeShara Brown leads the Big 12 and ranks 10th nationally with 71 steals on the year for an average of 3.2 spg. Most recently she grabbed one against Iowa State on Sunday.
If she keeps on her current pace, Brown will have a chance to break Amanda Lassiter's single-season steals record of 98.
Brown led the conference in steals last year with 2.7 spg. and 79 total on the year, which is the seventh best single-season total in Tiger history.
JOHNSON REACHES MILESTONE
With a layup to start scoring in the second of Missouri's game against Bradley on Dec. 5 senior Jessra Johnson etched her name in the MU record book. The basket marked the 999th and 1,000th points in her Tiger career, making her the 27th player in Missouri history to score at least 1,000 points.
Johnson now stands in 20th place on the all-time scoring list after a three-point outing against Iowa State. She needs three more points to pass Kerensa Barr (1,161) for 19th.
With 89 blocks in her career, Johnson also ranks ninth all-time on that list. Additionally, she should also end her tiger career ranked in the top-10 in career rebounds as well. Currently sitting on 649 in her career, she needs 30 rebounds to pass Nikki Smith (1992-95) and move into 10th place on the all-time list.
JOHNSON DOUBLES UP
Senior Jessra Johnson scored 13 points and ripped down 10 rebounds to record her first double-double of the season against Oklahoma State on Jan. 26. The forward now has 12 double-doubles in her career, with six in her sophomore season and five last year.
Johnson came within one rebound of recording four other double-doubles this year: Memphis (22 pts, 9 rbs), Florida State (16 pts, 9 rbs), Ball State (18 pts, 9 rbs) and Bradley (17 pts, 9 rbs).
>BROWN DOING IT ALL
Known as a defensive specialist after nabbing 79 steals last season, junior RaeShara Brown is doing it all for the Tigers this year.
The guard is averaging 9.1 ppg. after marks of 1.0 ppg. and 6.0 ppg. as a freshman and sophomore, respectively. Brown, who stands just 5'8", also grabs 4.7 rpg. More impressive is that 48 of her 107 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end.
Brown also leads the Tigers in assists (3.3 apg.) and steals (3.2 spg.).
