Feb. 27, 2009

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team (12-14, 3-10 Big 12) hits the road for a contest against the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo., on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. CT. The game will be aired live on FSN-Rocky Mountain. March Stout will handle play-by-play duties, Ceal Barry will be the color analyst and Alanna Rizzo will serve as sideline reporter. The Buffs hold a 38-6 lead in the all-time series and picked up a 61-56 win in the first meeting of the year on Jan. 24, 2009.

Up Next
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena for its final home game of the season on Tuesday, March 3 in a 6:30 p.m. contest against Iowa State. Prior to the contest the program will recognize senior Alyssa Hollins for her contributions to the Mizzou women's basketball family. Missouri then closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 7 with a road game against Texas Tech at 2 p.m.

Scouting Colorado
The Buffaloes, which own a 11-14 overall record and a 3-10 mark in Big 12 play, are coming off a hard-fought 76-63 loss at Iowa State on Wednesday.

Sophomore Brittany Spears leads the team and is third in the conference with 17.8 ppg. to go along with a team high 8.0 rpg. Senior Kara Richards and junior Bianca Smith join Spears in double figures with 12.6 ppg. and 10.0 ppg., respectively. Richards adds 7.2 rpg. while Smith is second in the Big 12 with a 39.5 three-point field goal shooting percentage.

Head Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller is in her fourth year at the helm of the team and sports a 52-67 record with the program.

Texas outlasts Mizzou
Junior Jessra Johnson recorded her second consecutive double-double but Missouri could not get past No. 16 Texas as the Longhorns recorded a 66-56 win on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.

Johnson scored 16 points to go along with a game high 10 rebounds and senior Alyssa Hollins poured in a team high 18 points. The Tigers recorded 11 steals in the game and forced the Longhorns to commit 23 turnovers.

Mizzou ran off the first seven points of the contest, capped by a three from Hollins, just two minutes and 30 seconds into the game. The Tigers' offense stayed hot as the team eventually built a 10-point advantage, 19-9, with 9:41 remaining in the first half.

The Longhorns stormed back with a 13-2 run over the next five and a half minutes and took their first lead of the game, 22-21, when Brittainey Raven made a layup at the 4:13 mark. Texas continued to put on the pressure and entered the break with a 30-24 advantage.

The Tigers closed within three, 32-29, after Johnson hit a layup and sophomore Shakara Jones nailed her first three-pointer of the season with 18:16 left in the contest. Texas earned its biggest lead of the game, 51-38, when Ashleigh Fontenette converted a layup with just over 10 minutes on the clock but five consecutive points from Johnson brought Mizzou back within seven, 51-44.

Texas' lead by at least seven points the rest of the way and held on for the 66-56 victory.

Johnson posts another double-double
Junior Jessra Johnson posted her fourth double-double of the year and her second in as many games against No. 16 Texas on Feb. 24. The forward registered 16 points and a team high 10 boards against the Longhorns.

Her rebounding had dropped to 6.5 rpg. following the Baylor game but Johnson has recorded nine, 11 and 10 rebounds in her last three games to get the average back up to 6.9 rpg.

Additionally, Johnson is averaging 18.7 ppg. over the last three games, including an impressive 23-point outing (one less than her career high) at Nebraska on Feb. 21.

Brown stealing up a storm
Sophomore guard RaeShara Brown has 61 steals on the year to average a Big 12 best 2.5 spg. this season. In just league play, Brown has upped her average to 2.6 spg., still a Big 12 high.

Brown's 65 swipes are 10 more than Alyssa Hollins' team high total from all of last year and are just four shy of tying for 10th-place on Mizzou's single-season record.

Hollins heats up
Senior Alyssa Hollins scored a team high 18 points in Mizzou's game against No. 16 Texas on Feb. 24. The total, which came on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor, marked the 20th time this season and 66th time in her career that the guard recorded double figures in points.

The 18 points also mark the third-best scoring total of the season for Hollins, after a 27-point outing in a triple-overtime game against Holy Cross on Nov. 29 and a 19-point game at Duquesne on Jan. 3.

Missouri taking care of the ball
Missouri recorded a season low eight turnovers against Nebraska on Feb. 21, one less than the nine the Tigers committed on Nov. 22 against Western Illinois.

As a team the Tigers commit just 15.6 turnovers per game to rank fifth in the conference and force 19.0 turnovers a game to rank second in the league behind Texas A&M. Overall Mizzou ranks third in assist/turnover margin with +3.5.

Johnson lighting up
Junior Jessra Johnson averaged a team high 20.0 ppg. and 10.0 rpg. in games against Kansas State and Nebraska. In the Tigers' 52-43 upset of No. 14 Kansas State the junior lead the way with team highs in points (17), rebounds (nine), blocks (career high nine), steals (three) and assists (two). Against Nebraska three days later Johnson recorded her third double-double of the season with a season high 23 points and 11 rebounds on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 shooting from behind the three-point line.

Johnson's six blocks against the Wildcats were the most by a Tiger since Stretch James tied Amanda Lassiter's single-game record with seven against Missouri State (Southwest Missouri State) on Dec. 10, 2003.

Tigers hold block party
Mizzou recorded a season high 11 blocks against the Wildcats on Feb. 18, which is also the second highest total in the Big 12 this year. The 11 blocks were the most by the Tigers since the team recorded 11 against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4, 2005.

Additionally, Jessra Johnson's six blocks doubled the previous individual season high and stand one shy of the program single-game record of seven, held by Amanda Lassiter (vs. Western Kentucky; Dec. 4, 1999) and Stretch James (Missouri State [SMS]; Dec. 10, 2003). The forward's total was the most since James tied the program record over five years ago.

Mizzou knocks off ranked team
Missouri's upset of No. 14/16 Kansas State on Feb. 18 marked the first time in six tries the Tigers earned a victory over a ranked team this year.

The win also gave the Tigers a win over a top-25 team for the fourth consecutive season:

2008-09 MU 52, #14 KSU 43 (2/18/09)
2007-08 MU 70, #11 OU 64, OT (3/11/08)
2006-07 MU 65, #19 NU 53 (2/17/07)
2005-06 MU 65, #4 BU 61 (1/4/06)