Nov. 19, 2003

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UP NEXT...
Baylor vs. Mississippi State
Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 - 7 p.m.
Ferrell Center (10,284) - Waco, Texas

Baylor vs. Nicholls State
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003 - 6 p.m. DH
Ferrell Center (10,284)- Waco, Texas

GET YOUR TICKETS...
Tickets are available at the Floyd Casey Stadium ticket office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Local Fazoli's Restaurants are offering tickets for $2 to the Lady Bears' game against Mississippi State. Waco area supporters can buy basketball tickets this week. No food purchase is necessary.

LADY BEARS IN SEASON OPENERS...
The Lady Bears are 23-6 in season openers and 14-1 when opening the season in Waco. Their lone season opening loss in Waco came in 1988 when Baylor dropped an 88-76 contest to Southwest Texas State. Baylor held a 39-35 halftime lead but was outscored 53-37 in the second half. That game was the first regular-season game played in the Ferrell Center.

Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 3-0 in season openers at Baylor. This will be the first year her team has not opened the season as part of a tournament. In 2000 Baylor defeated Miami (OH) 75-62 in the Boston University Invitational and in 2001 the Lady Bears beat North Texas (85-78) in the Nevada Bell Classic. Last season Baylor hosted the four-team Women's Sports Foundation Tournament and defeated Princeton 86-47.

The Lady Bears are 12-3 in home openers in the Ferrell Center (since Nov. 25, 1988) and have won 10 straight home openers.

NEARING 100...
Head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson will coach her 100th game as a head coach this weekend, she has a three-year record of 72-26. The season opener against Mississippi State marks her 99th game at the helm of the Baylor program. She follows that with a game on Saturday against Nicholls State for her 100th game coached.

RECEIVING VOTES...
In the latest Associated Press (AP) Poll, the Lady Bears received 14 votes. The last time Baylor was listed in the AP Top 25 was at the end of the 2001-02 season when they were No. 7.

THE LADY BEARS...
After lopsided exhibition wins, the Lady Bears are ready for their first big test of the 2003-04 season. Baylor will open the season with back-to-back games against Mississippi State (Fri., Nov. 21) and Nicholls State (Sat., Nov. 22).

Four Lady Bears averaged in double figures for the two exhibition games. Sophia Young (St. Vincent, West Indies/Evangel Christian [LA]), a sophomore post, picked up where she left off last season, averaging a double-double with 19.0 points and 12.5 rebounds. Freshman Emily Niemann (Houston/Westbury Christian) managed 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds an outing. Two players came off the bench to contribute significantly as well. Another freshman Monique Jones (Ferriday, LA/Ferriday HS), scored 12.5 a game and junior Steffanie Blackmon (Dallas/Rowlett HS), having to work her way back into shape from a knee injury, tallied 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in just 16.5 minutes a game.

THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson enters her fourth season with a 72-26 head coaching record. Mississippi State will be the third SEC team the Lady Bears have faced during her tenure. Baylor lost to Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2001 and lost to Auburn in the finals of the 2003 WNIT.

Mississippi State's Sharon Fanning opens her ninth season as Mississippi State's head coach on Friday night. She is 139-98 in eight seasons at MSU and is 462-324 in 27 years as a head coach. She was head coach at Kentucky (1987-95) prior to moving to Starkville and was head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga from1976-87.

Fanning is no stranger to the Ferrell Center. The Lady Bulldogs faced the Lady Bears in the semifinals of the WNIT in 1998. Baylor prevailed in that contest, 75-65.

SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE...
The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs will find out quickly what like will be like without three-time Kodak All-American, and the WNBA's top draft pick, LaToya Thomas. However, returning to the team is 2001-02 SEC Newcomer of the Year Tan White. White, a two-time all-SEC selection from Tupelo, Miss., is a 5-7 junior guard. She averaged 18.3 points 7.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.1 steals over her two seasons as a Lady Bulldog. She has started in all 63 games of her career. Rebecca Kates, a 6-0 junior forward, and Doceide Warren, a 5-6 sophomore guard from Dallas (Mesquite HS), are the team's other two returning starters.

Neither White or Warren played in the Lady Bulldog's exhibition games and Kates appeared in only one game. White has a strained right quad and Warren has been held out with a hamstring injury and hip flexor problems. The Lady Bulldogs dropped both their exhibition contests. They lost to the Houston Jaguars, 89-71, and the Premier Players, 79-68.

The Lady Bulldogs are coming off one of their most successful seasons ever, finishing the 2002-03 campaign at 24-8. The finished tied for third in the SEC at 10-4 and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to New Mexico, 73-61.

THE SERIES RECORDS...
The series between Baylor and Mississippi State is tied a 1-1. The Lady Bulldogs posted an 83-73 win over Baylor during the 1974-75 season (no record of where the game was played) and Baylor defeated MSU in the Ferrell Center of March 15, 1998, 75-65. That games was in the semifinals of the WNIT.

BAYLOR VS. THE SEC...
The Lady Bears are 9-29 versus teams currently in the SEC. The bulk of those games came when Arkansas, a current SEC member, was a member of the Southwest Conference.
Baylor vs. SEC opponents:
Arkansas - 6-21
Florida - 0-1
Louisiana State - 2-5
Mississippi - 0-1
Mississippi State - 1-1

MULKEY'S TEAMS PROTECTING THE HOME COURT...
In Kim Mulkey-Robertson's three years as Baylor's head coach, her teams are 43-8 in the Ferrell Center. Their only home losses have come against:
Jan. 13, 2001 - lost to #17 Oklahoma (90-87)
Feb. 7, 2001 - lost to #11 Texas Tech (67-56)
Jan. 12, 2002 - lost to #3 Oklahoma (82-73)
Mar. 17, 2002 - lost to Drake (76-72, 2nd Round NCAA)
Jan. 26, 2003 - lost to #22 Oklahoma (65-64)
Feb. 8, 2003 - lost to #5 Kansas State (65-53)
Feb. 26, 2003 - lost to #10 Texas (79-57)
Apr. 4, 2003 - lost to Auburn (64-63, WNIT Finals)