No. 1 WBB Takes on St. John's at MSG
12/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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| Baylor [#1/1 (9-0)] vs. St. John's [NR/NR (5-4)] Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 | 10 a.m. CT New York, N.Y. | Madison Square Garden (9,585) TV: ESPNU |
 Watch |  Listen |  Notes |  Gameday Central |
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QUICK HITS
• BU's Nov. 20 game vs. then-No. 2 Notre Dame marked the start of the most difficult regular-season stretch in school history. After defeating the Fighting Irish at home and Yale on Nov. 22, the Lady Bears defeated then-sixth-ranked Tennessee on Sunday, Nov. 27, in Knoxville and have a Dec. 18 home game against second-ranked UConn on the horizon.
• Baylor is averaging a Big 12-leading 51.2 rebounds a contest, hauling down 50 or more seven times.
• Brittney Griner has registered 436 career blocked shots and needs 11 more rejections to break Oklahoma's Courtney Paris' Big 12 record of 446.
• Brittney Griner ranks No. 8 on BU's career scoring chart with 1,707 points and needs two points to move into No. 7 and 15 to climb to No. 6.
• Baylor is the only school to have its women's basketball (No. 1), men's basketball (No. 6) and football (No. 12) teams ranked among the AP Top 25.
• Odyssey Sims has averaged 17.8 points and 10.0 assist per game over the last five games.
• The Lady Bears are 47-4 over their last 51 games.
• BU is bidding for its first 10-0 start since 2005-06 and just the fifth such opening in school history.
• The Lady Bears rank No. 1 nationally in scoring offense (89.4), assists per game (21.6), blocked shots per game (8.9), No. 2 in scoring margin (37.5), field goal percentage defense (.285), No. 3 in assist/turnover ratio (1.47) and No. 4 in field goal percentage (.491).
• In individual national statistics, Brittney Griner is No. 1 in blocks per game (5.1), No. 5 in field goal percentage (.628), No. 6 in points per game (23.9) and No. 11 in rebounds (11.0). Odyssey Sims is No. 4 in steals per game (4.4), No. 5 in assists per game (7.1) and No. 39 in scoring (18.8). Senior guard Terran Condrey ranks No. 10 in assist/turnover ratio (3.0).
• Baylor hasn't allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent from the field in 183 straight games, dating back to March 25, 2006.
• Brittney Griner's 436 career blocks rank her No. 6 on the NCAA Division I career block list. Griner needs 11 to pass No. 5 OU's Courtney Paris' 446, while IUPUI's Brooke McAfee sits at No. 4 with 447. St. Mary's (CA) Louella Tomlinson holds the all-time career mark with 663.
SCOUTING THE RED STORM
Located in Queens, N.Y., the St. John's Red Storm enter the game with a 5-4 record after wins over La Salle (66-45), Wagner (54-34), Temple (59-53), Howard (63-48) and Hartford (70-45). St. John's losses came to St. Bonaventure (64-58), Hofstra (93-82), Iowa (60-52) and No. 22 De Paul (69-52). The Red Storm are 0-2 on the road this season.
Nadirah McKenith, a 5-7 junior guard, leads the team in scoring with 13.4 a contest while Eugeneia McPherson, a 5-8 junior guard, adds 13.0 a game and Shenneika Smith, a 6-1 junior guard, scores 11.7 a contest. Smith and 6-2 freshman forward Amber Thompson are the team's top rebounders at 8.7 and 7.6, respectively.
The Red Storm are coached by 10th-year head coach Kim Barnes Arico. Arico is 157-128 (.551) in her 10 years along the St. John's sideline and 251-200 in 167 seasons as a head coach.
VS THE BIG EAST
Baylor is 9-7 against BIG €ˆEAST schools: 0-1 vs. Cincinnati, 0-2 vs. UConn, 1-0 vs. Georgetown, 0-1 vs. Louisville, 2-0 vs. Notre Dame, 0-2 vs. Pittsburgh, 1-0 vs. South €ˆFlorida, 2-0 vs. St. John's, 1-0 vs. Syracuse, 1-0 vs. Villanova and 1-1 vs. West Virginia.
Kim Mulkey is 7-4 vs. BIG €ˆEAST schools; 0-2 vs. UConn, 1-0 vs. Georgetown, 0-1 vs. Louisville, 2-0 vs. Notre Dame, 0-1 vs. Pittsburgh, 2-0 vs. St John's, 1-0 vs. Syracuse, 1-0 vs. West Virginia.
