Dec. 6, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLUMBIA, Mo. - After a month on the road, the University of Missouri women's basketball team (3-4) finally opens the home portion of its 2010-11 schedule on Tuesday, Dec. 7 with a game against UT Martin (4-3) at 7 p.m. at Mizzou Arena. The contest will be televised live on the Mizzou Sports Network with Beau Baeham calling the action and Gary Link serving as color analyst. Fans can find the game on Fox Sports Midwest in mid-Missouri and Metro Sports in Kansas City. The Tigers hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series, with Mizzou picking up a 74-23 win over the Skyhawks on Dec. 14, 2008.
UP NEXT
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena on Saturday, Dec. 11 for a game with UMKC at Noon. The game will be televised on the Mizzou Sports Network, which can be found on Fox Sports Midwest in mid-Missouri and Metro Sports in Kansas City. Beau Baehman and Gary Link will once again call the action for the telecast.
SCOUTING UT MARTIN
The Skyhawks enter Mizzou Arena with a 4-3 mark on the season and are coming off a 61-46 win at Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 4. The team also has wins at Air Force (91-87), Belmont (73-52) and Southern Illinois (62-50).
Freshman Heather Butler leads the Skyhawks with 20.3 ppg., followed closely behind by classmate Jasmine Newsome, who averages 17.4 ppg. Fellow freshman Jaclissa Haislip also scores in double figures with 10.0 ppg. and pulls down a team high 8.6 rpg.
Head Coach Kevin McMillan is in his second season at UT Martin and has a 15-22 record with the team.
LAST MEETING
Missouri allowed the second fewest points in its 36 year history to record a 74-23 win over UT Martin on Dec. 14, 2008 at Mizzou Arena. The 23 points by the Skyhawks was just two off Mizzou's fewest points allowed record posted in a 119-21 victory over Bethany on Jan. 3, 1977.
Bekah Mills and Bailey Gee led the Tigers with 13 points apiece. The point total was a career high for Gee, while Mills also added a personal best six steals. Alyssa Hollins added 11 points and Jessra Johnson handed out a career high eight assists.
Mizzou recorded a season high 22 steals, the third consecutive game the team set the season high in that category. The team also scored 37 points off turnovers.
LAST TIME OUT
Missouri cut a 15-point second half deficit to six but could not get any closer as Northwestern pulled out a 79-68 victory over the Tigers Sunday afternoon in Evanston, Ill.
With Missouri trailing by 14, 71-57, and 4:06 remaining, senior Shakara Jones hit a layup to jumpstart a 9-1 run by the Tigers and get the team within six, 72-66, with 2:15 left. Mizzou could not get any closer, however, as Northwestern hit its free throws in the final minutes to preserve the 79-68 Wildcat win.
Senior RaeShara Brown scored a career high 23 points to lead the Tigers, to go along with five steals. Jones and junior Christine Flores scored 16 points apiece, while sophomore Sydney Crafton grabbed a team high 10 rebounds.
TIGERS TEAMING UP WITH TOYS FOR TOTS
The University of Missouri women's basketball team is teaming up with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to collect toys for mid-Missouri children this December.
All fans who bring a new, unwrapped toy to Mizzou's next four home games on Dec. 7 (UT Martin), Dec. 11 (UMKC), Dec. 19 (NJIT) and Dec. 21 (UC Riverside) will receive free admission to the contest.
The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.
BROWN HAS CAREER DAY AGAINST WILDCATS
Senior RaeShara Brown was Missouri's main offensive threat in the team's loss to Northwestern on Dec. 5. She scored a career high 23 points (besting her old mark of 21 set against Colorado and Nebraska last season) on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor and 5-of-9 shooting from behind the arc. Both her overall field goals and 3-point makes and attempts were career highs. She also nabbed five steals.
Brown scored 18 of her 23 points in the second half as she led the Tigers' comeback attempt. Overall, she shot 63.6 percent (7-11) in the second half, including 66.6 percent (4-6) from behind the arc. Additionally, four of her steals came in the final 20 minutes.
BETTER JOB TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
The Tigers committed just 11 turnovers in its loss to Northwestern on Dec. 5, the lowest output of the season for the squad. The previous low was 15, which Missouri recorded on Dec. 1 at Ball State.
Overall, Mizzou is averaging 13.0 turnovers per contest in its last two games, compared to 21.8 turnovers per game averaged in the first five games of the season.
BROWN INCHES CLOSER TO STEALS MARK
With five steals at Northwestern on Dec. 5, senior RaeShara Brown has compiled 209 steals in her career and needs just 39 to tie former Tiger great Joni Davis as MU's all-time steals leader. Her 209 steals currently tie Sarah Campell for fourth in the Tiger record book, and she needs 13 more to tie Carla Yancey for third 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.
JONES NEARING POINTS MILESTONE
Senior Shakara Jones is sitting on 966 points in her career, just 34 shy of the millennium mark. Assuming the forward accomplishes the feat this season, she will become just the 28th player in Mizzou history to score at least 1,000 points.
Jones has a 10.0 ppg. average in her three-year career, after posting marks of 10.5 ppg. as a freshman, 10.3 ppg. as a sophomore and 9.1 ppg. as a junior.
BROWN DOING IT ALL
Senior RaeShara Brown currently leads the Tigers in four major statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists and steals.
The 5-8 guard is averaging 16.9 ppg. and pulling down 7.4 rpg. Additionally, Brown dishes out a team high 4.6 apg. and is nabbing 2.6 spg. She leads all Big 12 players with 37.0 mpg.
On the season, Brown is shooting 44.9 percent (40-89) from the floor and 41.2 percent (14-34) from behind the arc.
CRAFTON ALL OVER THE BOARDS
Sophomore Sydney Crafton has been all over the boards in Mizzou's past three games, averaging a team high 10.3 rpg. during the stretch. Against Georgia Tech on Nov. 27, the 5-10 guard pulled down a career and game high 12 rebounds. In Missouri's next outing at Ball State, Crafton responded with nine rebounds, and at Northwestern on Dec. 5, she grabbed 10 rebounds.
Thanks to her recent rebounding prowess, Crafton is now tied for second on the squad with 6.4 rpg.
The 12 rebounds against Georgia Tech was triple her previous personal best of four. The mark is the third best invididual output of the year for Missouri, behind Shakara Jones' 14 and Christine Flores' 13, both recorded against Memphis on Nov. 12.
DOUBLE DIGIT REBOUNDS FOR THE TIGERS
Entering Tuesday's game against UT Martin, the Tigers have had a Tiger record at least 10 rebounds in six of the team's seven games so far this year.
Four different Mizzou players have reached the double digit rebound mark so far this year: Senior Shakara Jones and Junior Christine Flores had 14 and 13 rebounds, respectively, in the season opener against Memphis on No. 12. Senior RaeShara Brown took over with outputs of 11, 10 and 11 rebounds against Eastern Illinois, Tennessee and Georgetown, while sophomore Sydney Crafton had 12 rebounds against Georgia Tech on Nov. 27 and 10 at Northwestern on Dec. 5.
In Mizzou's lone game (Ball State on Dec. 1) without a double digit rebounder, four different Tigers were poised to reach the mark. In the end, however, three players finished one shy with nine rebounds (Sydney Crafton, Shakara Jones and Jasmyn Otote), while Christine Flores had eight in the contest.
