Jan. 20, 2004
WACO, Texas -
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#19/RV Baylor (14-3, 2-2) vs. Kansas (8-7, 1-3)
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 - 7 pm (CST)
Ferrell Center (10,284) - Waco, Texas
#19 LADY BEARS VS. KANSAS...
The #19 Baylor Lady Bears (14-3, 2-2) returns home to take on Kansas (8-7, 1-3) on Wednesday in Waco. The Lady Bears are in the midst of a seven- game stretch where they face five ranked teams. They have No. 14 Colorado, No. 3 Texas and No. 2 Texas Tech behind them but still have to face No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 9 Kansas State after hosting Kansas.
BAYLOR IN THE POLLS...
Baylor moved up in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll after defeating No. 3 Texas and losing at No. 2 Texas Tech by one point last week. They moved up five spots to No. 19 in this week's poll. Baylor received 38 votes in the latest USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, down 12 from the previous week. They currently sit at No. 29.
THE LADY BEARS...
The Lady Bears finished the non-conference portion of their schedule at 12-1. Under fourth-year head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson's guidance the Lady Bears are 46-2 in non-conference regular season games. After defeating No. 3 Texas on Wednesday and losing by one point at Texas Tech, Baylor's season record now stands at 14-3 and they are 2-2 in league play. Texas was the highest-ranked team the Lady Bears have ever defeated topping last year's overtime (86-72) win over No. 7 Texas Tech and a 79-74 win in 2002 over No. 7 Iowa State.
Three players are averaging in double figures for Baylor. With a career-high 27 points against Washington State, sophomore post Sophia Young moved into the lead for the Lady Bears in scoring and rebounding average. Young followed that game with the 19th double-double of her career with a 13-point, 10-rebound performance against Pacific and produced another double-double against Eastern Kentucky (21p, 11r). Young recorded back-to-back double-doubles against Colorado (14p, 11r) and Texas A&M (10p, 13r). She is averaging a team-leading 17.1 points and 8.5 rebounds an outing. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 13.8 points and 6.6 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.1 points. Baylor's two seniors Jessika Stratton and Dionne Brown follow closely with 8.4 and 8.3 points, respectively. Brown ranks third on the team in rebounding with 6.3 a game.
Baylor is outscoring their opponents by 24.6 points a game and is shooting a league-leading .489 (522-1067) on the season. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 55.4 points a game and a .324 (328-1011) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 10 of the 17 games this season and has been over the .600 mark once (Sam Houston State .661).
Sophia Young NEARING 500...
Sophomore Sophia Young, a 6-1 post, needs just five rebounds to reach 500 for her career. Through 52 games she has hauled down 495 rebounds.
She could become the fastest active Big 12 player to reach 500 career rebounds. Here's a breakdown of active Big 12 players who have reached 500 rebounds and how long it took them:
Stacy Stephens, Texas - 54 games
Caton Hill, Oklahoma - 61 games
Kendra Wecker, Kansas State - 63 games
Nicole Ohlde, Kansas State - Junior season
Evan Unrau, Missouri - Junior season
Trisha Skibbe, Oklahoma State - Junior season
Tera Bjorklund, Colorado - Senior season
THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, in her fourth season, has an 86-29 head coaching record which equates out to a .749 winning percentage. She has produced 20-win seasons in each of her years as a head coach and has taken the Lady Bears to postseason competition all three seasons, twice to the NCAA Tournament and to the finals of the WNIT last year.
Since taking over the head of the Lady Bear program four years ago Mulkey-Robertson has posted the second-best win total among Big 12 coaches:
Oklahoma - 92-25
Baylor - 86-29
Texas Tech - 86-26
Texas - 86-31
Colorado - 84-29
Kansas State - 80-31
Iowa State - 71-37
Missouri - 62-45
Oklahoma State - 46-60
Nebraska - 47-56
Texas A&M - 42-58
Kansas - 36-67
*Baylor, Colorado, Texas Tech and Texas are the only Big 12 teams to win 20 or more games in each of the past three seasons.
Kansas' Marian Washington, a 1970 graduate of West Chester State, is in her 31st season as a head coach. She has a career record of 559-351, all at Kansas.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The Kansas Jayhawks come into the game with an 8-7 record overall and 1-3 mark in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks come into the game after dropping two straight league contests. They started off the season with two losses (UMKC, Oregon) and then proceeded to win five straight (Sacramento State, Cal State Fullerton, UTEP, Ball State, UTA). After two losses (Dartmouth, Fairfield) the Jayhawks opened Big 12 play with a loss to Texas. They gained their first league win at Missouri before dropping contests to Colorado and Kansas State.
Sophomore forward Crystal Kemp leads the team in scoring with 13.8 points a game. Junior guard Aquanita Burras scores 10.6 points a game and ranks second on the team in rebounding with 6.1 a game. Freshman Lauren Ervin leads the team in rebounding, hauling down 6.9 a game.
THE SERIES RECORDS...
Kansas leads the series 6-5 but Baylor has won the last three games. Baylor holds a 4-2 lead in games played in Waco. The two teams have met eight times is Big 12 competition, seven during the regular season and one in the Big 12 Tournament in 1997. Baylor leads the series 4-3 in regular season Big 12 contests. Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 3-0 as a head coach against Kansas.
