Feb. 6, 2004
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#17/17 Baylor (17-4, 5-3) vs. #9/9 Texas Tech (19-3, 5-3)
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004 - 12 pm (CST)
Ferrell Center (10,289)- Waco, Texas
TELEVISION...
FOX Sports Network - Kevin Eschenfelder - play-by-play; Brenda VanLengen - color analysis
Baylor's game with Texas Tech will be the lone Big 12 women's telecast on Fox Sports Network on Sunday. The Baylor-Texas Tech broadcast can be viewed by 43,780 million households.
RADIO...
KLRK - FM 92.9 - Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Scott Fogleman (color analysis). Broadcast begins 30 minutes prior to game time. In addition, Dallas' WBAP (820-AM) will carry the Texas Tech-Baylor broadcast.
BAYLOR AUDIO AND VIDEO LIVE ON THE NET...
For the first time, Bear fans can both watch and listen to live video and audio of Baylor basketball online in 2003-2004. The radio broadcast of all Baylor basketball games can be heard live on-line on Baylor's official website, BaylorBears.com, or at www.broadcast.com.
Live video is available at baylorbears.nmnathletics.com; all home games that are not scheduled to be televised are included in the package. Subscriptions are available for $6.95 per game, or $49.95 for a season pass that covers both men's and women's games.
#17/17 LADY BEARS VS. #9/9 TEXAS TECH...
The 17th-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (17-4, 5-3) take on the 9th-ranked Texas Tech Lady Raiders in the Ferrell Center on Sunday. The matchup with Texas Tech will be Baylor's seventh ranked team in nine games, Baylor is 5-3 during that span. Baylor's only losses this season have come to teams ranked No. 15 or higher. The Lady Bears are 9-1 in the Ferrell Center this season, losing only to then-No. 14 Colorado. Baylor and Texas Tech come into Sunday's game with identical 5-3 Big 12 records.
Three more victories this season would give the Lady Bears four straight 20-win seasons under head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson.
BAYLOR IN THE POLLS...
Baylor continues to climb up the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll, they are currently No. 17, slipping one spot from last week. Baylor, after breaking into the Top 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll two weeks ago, moved up from No. 19 to No. 17.
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 posting a road win over No. 15 Oklahoma and a loss at No. 12 Kansas State, Baylor's record now stands at 16-4 overall and 4-3 in league play.
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) and added another one against Kansas (20p, 11r). She is averaging a team-leading 16.5 points and 8.2 rebounds an outing. Steffanie Blackmon, a junior post, ranks second in both categories with 14.1 points and 6.9 rebounds. Freshman forward Emily Niemann is averaging 10.5 points while senior Jessika Stratton follows closely with 9.8. Senior Dionne Brown ranks third on the team in rebounding with 5.6 a game.
Baylor is outscoring their opponents by 20.7 points a game and is shooting a league-leading .477 (628-1316) on the season. The Lady Bears are holding their opponents to just 58.0 points a game and a .345 (428-1242) shooting average. Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of the 21 games this season and has been over the .600 mark once (Sam Houston State .661).
FAST FACTS...
* Baylor has recorded double-digit steals in 16 of 21 games.
* Baylor has been outrebounded only four times in 21 games.
* Baylor has shot .500 or above in 11 of 21 games this season.
* Sophia Young has scored at least 20 points five times this season and 10 times in her career.
* Sophia Young has six double-doubles on the season and 23 for her career.
* Steffanie Blackmon has scored in double figures in 18 of 21 games and scored at least 20 four times this year.
* Emily Niemann has hit a 3-pointer in 20 of 21 games, hitting a trey in her first 14 collegiate games before failing to connect at Texas A&M on Jan. 10.
* Jessika Stratton has hit a 3-pointer in 15 of 21 games.
* Against Kansas and Oklahoma, Jessika Stratton (.737), Steffanie Blackmon (.538), Sophia Young (.579) and Emily Niemann (.500) combined to shoot 54.2 percent, going 45-for-83.
* Sophia Young has scored in double figures 49 times in 56 career games, including all 21 this season.
* Sophia Young has hauled down double-digit rebounds in six games this season and 23 in her career.
* Jessika Stratton has averaged 15.5 points over the last four games (21-Kansas; 20-Oklahoma; 6-Kansas State; 15-Nebraska).
* Chameka Scott has averaged 7.7 rebounds over the last three games (6-Oklahoma; 8-Kansas State; 9-Nebraska).
* Jessika Stratton and Chameka Scott each played 40 minutes against Nebraska.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS (through games Feb. 2)...
Sophia Young ranks among the nation's leaders (No. 5) in field goal percentage per game and freshman Emily Niemann is 19th in 3-point field goal percentage. The Lady Bears, as a team, rank among the top in nine areas.
Individuals
Field goal percentage - #5 Sophia Young (.614)
Three-point field goal percentage - #19 Emily Niemann (.427)
Team
#3 - Field goal percentage defense (34.5)
#3 - Assists per game (19.5)
#6 - Scoring offense (78.6)
#7 - Field goal percentage (.477)
#8 - Three-point field goal percentage (38.8)
#10 - Scoring margin (20.7)
#14 - Steals per game (12.2)
#18 - Blocked shots per games (5.1)
#22 - Rebound margin (6.8)
THE COACHES...
Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, in her fourth season, has an 89-30 head coaching record which equates out to a .748 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.
Mulkey-Robertson was named Baylor's fourth head coach on April 4, 2000. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame that same year. This past summer she was inducted into the Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
Texas Tech's Marsha Sharp, a 1974 Wayland Baptist graduate, is in her 22nd season overall as a head coach, all with the Lady Raiders. She has a career record of 527-162.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT...
The No. 9 Texas Tech Lady Raiders come into the game with a 19-3 record overall and 5-3 mark in Big 12 play. The Lady Raiders are coming off of a 67-44 home victory over Kansas on Wednesday night. In league play the Lady Raiders have posted victories over Oklahoma State (102-43), Baylor (64-63), Nebraska (68-55), Texas A&M (65-56) and Kansas (67-44). They have lost to Iowa State (64-63), Oklahoma State (88-87 2ot) and Texas (82-73). They are 5-3 on the road this season and 0-3 in Big 12 road games.
The Lady Raiders, since losing top scorer Jia Perkins (16.5 ppg) due to medical reasons, have had to rely on a more balanced offense. With Perkins gone, Texas Tech has only one player that averages double-digit scoring but have four others that average 7.6 or more points a game. Freshman guard Alesha Robertson leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points a game. Natalie Ritchie and Cisti Greenwalt each contribute 7.7 a game and Erin Grant and Jametra Clark each average 7.6 a contest. Casey Jackson leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 a game and Greenwalt hauls down 5.4 and Latoya Davis comes off the bench to average 5.0 a game.
THE SERIES RECORDS...
Texas Tech leads the series 44-11 and has a 19-4 series lead in Waco. The lady Raiders posted a 64-63 win in Lubbock earlier this season. The two teams split the series last season. Texas Tech posted a 62-48 win in Lubbock and Baylor won in overtime (86-72) in Waco. Baylor has won three of the last five contests. Prior to that, Texas Tech had won 39 straight games against the Lady Bears. As a head coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson is 3-5 versus Texas Tech.
