February 20, 2008

Women's Basketball Begins Four-Game Roadswing at Drury

GAME NOTES

THE SETTING: The University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s basketball team hits the road for a four-game roadswing beginning at No. 6 ranked Drury Thursday that will close out the 2007-08 season.

The Tritons also travel to Rockhurst Saturday in weekend play.

THE SERIES: UMSL and Drury meet for the ninth time with the Panthers having won the first eight meetings.

UMSL and Rockhurst meet for the 10th time with Rockhurst holding a 5-4 edge in the series. The Hawks have won three straight, including a 73-70 overtime decision in Kansas City last season.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: Senior Taylor Gagliano scored 14 of her game-high 18 points in the second half to help UMSL to a near upset against Drury on Feb. 9 in St. Louis. In the end though, it was Drury who earned the win, 71-68.

The Tritons rallied from an 11-point second half deficit to take a 68-67 lead with 1:08 to play on a pair of free throws by sophomore Lacey Shalenko. Drury ended the game by connecting on 4-of-6 free throws.

Turnovers proved costly for UMSL, who committed 28, including one in the final 13 seconds of play when they trailed 70-68. The Panthers took advantage of the Tritons miscues, outscoring UMSL, 30-14, on points off turnovers.

UMSL shot just 29.6 percent from the field and saw visiting Rockhurst overcome a three-point halftime deficit to defeat the Tritons, 75-66, on Feb. 7 in St. Louis.

Sophomore Lindsey Ransome scored a career-high 12 points to lead UMSL, while freshman Kelly Carter added 10 points.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Drury stands at 21-2, including a West Division best 13-2 mark in the GLVC. The Panthers have won 12 straight games and are led by Molly Carter’s 14.1 points per game. Carter also owns team-highs of 92 assists and 83 steals. Melanie Oliver adds 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Rockhurst enters a Thursday contest against Missouri S&T with an 8-15 record, including a 3-12 mark in the GLVC. The Hawks are tied with UMSL for sixth place in the West Division standings and are led by Amy Hake’s 14.3 points per game.

THE OPPOSING COACHES: Steve Harold is in his first season at Drury. He previously coached at Glenville State for 12 seasons and was named the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year last season.

Rebecca Morrisey is in her seventh season as the head coach at Rockhurst.

AN UMSL WIN AGAINST DRURY WOULD...:
... improve the Tritons’ record to 7-17, including 4-12 in the GLVC.
... snap a four-game losing streak and a four-game losing streak on the road.

SENIOR STAR PART I: Senior Courtney Watts is ranked in the top 10 in 11 different career categories, including: free throws made (3rd - 260); assists (3rd - 350); free throws attempted (4th - 350); steals (4th - 137); assists average (5th - 3.4 apg); three-point field goals attempted (6th - 370); free throw percentage (7th - 74.3%); three-point field goals made (7th - 123); three-point field goal percentage (8th - 33.2%); steals average (10th - 1.3); points (10th - 1,005).

1,000 AND COUNTING: Courtney Watts became the 11th member of UMSL’s 1,000-point club last Saturday against Quincy. Watts notched the milestone at the 9:09 mark in the second half.

She is the first player to reach 1,000-points since Christy Lane (2000-03).

SENIOR STAR PART 2: Senior Leslie Ricker recorded her 500th career rebound against Oakland City Feb. 5 to etch her name in the career record books. Ricker has 525 career rebounds, which ranks ninth all-time.

She also became the first UMSL player to record 500 rebounds in a career since Lynette Wellen did so during 1998-2002, finishing with 519.

Ricker also etched her name in the assists record books against Rockhurst Feb. 7 and has 180 in her career, the 10th best effort all-time.

AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT TAYLOR: Taylor Gagliano is shooting at a 38.6 percent clip from beyond the three-point line during her career, which ranks second all-time in school history.

100 GRAND: Amanda Miller played in her 100th career game against SIU Edwardsville Thursday. Courtney Watts, Taylor Gagliano and Leslie Ricker all played in game no. 100 against Oakland City Feb. 5.

THREE’S THE WAY: For the second time in less than a week, the Tritons broke the school record for three-pointers made in a game, connecting on 17 against Oakland City Feb. 5. UMSL had set a new record with 16 at Quincy on Jan. 31 to better the old mark of 15 set against NW Missouri on Jan. 20, 1996.

The Tritons also broke the old mark of 31 three-point attempts against NW Missouri with 34 treys taken against Bellarmine on Jan. 26.

UMSL has made at least two three-pointers in each game this season and has made four or more in all but two games. The Tritons have had 10 or more three-pointers six times.

UMSL also leads the GLVC in three-point field goals made, averaging 7.61 per game and ranks 17th in all of NCAA Division II according to the latest rankings released Monday. The Tritons also rank 27th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (36.5).

TRITON TIDBITS:
• Ten different players have started at least one contest. In addition, 10 different starting line-ups have been used at least once.
• UMSL’s four seniors have combined to play in 413 games: Courtney Watts (104), Leslie Ricker (104), Taylor Gagliano (104), Amanda Miller (101).
• Courtney Watts has just two career 20-point plus scoring games - both of which came this year.
• Kelly Carter came off the bench against Oakland City on Feb. 5 to score a career-high 14 points. Entering the game, she had recorded just 24 points on the season.
• Kristi White became the first Triton to score 20 or more points in a game this season, netting a career-high 26 at Oakland City on Dec. 31. White sank seven three-pointers in the contest, the most by any player in the GLVC this season.
• Leslie Ricker recorded 11 points at Lewis on Jan. 17 and followed that up with 10 points at Wisconsin-Parkside on Jan. 19, marking only the third time in her career she has done so and the first since she was a sophomore.
• Mary Slaughter recorded her first career double-double against SIU Edwardsville Feb. 14, tallying 16 points and 13 rebounds.

TRITON TRENDS:
• Taylor Gagliano is shooting 55.5 percent (15-of-27) from three-point range in the last eight games.

HEAD COACH LISA CURLISS-TAYLOR: Lisa Curliss-Taylor was named the 10th coach of the Tritons women’s basketball program in May of 2007. Curliss-Taylor comes to UMSL from East Texas Baptist, where she spent the last four years serving as the head coach. During that time, she compiled a 57-48 record, including a 40-14 mark in her final two seasons at ETBU.

Prior to her head coaching job at ETBU, Curliss-Taylor was an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Washburn University for two seasons. The team went 53-11 in those two seasons, including a 30-4 record in 2002-03 while winning a conference and regional championship, and earning a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.

In the 2000-01 season, she was an assistant coach at Norman (Okla.) High School.

Curliss-Taylor spent two seasons as a student-assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma for head coach Sherri Coale, where the team went 25-8 during the 1999-2000 season and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

Originally from Oklahoma City, Okla., Curliss-Taylor played collegiately at the NCAA Division I level at Oral Roberts University, before transferring and coaching at Oklahoma.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE: In the latest Massey Rankings released Feb. 11, UMSL is ranked as having the 31st toughest schedule in the country, which is fifth in the GLVC, behind Drury (19), Lewis (22), Quincy (24) and UW-Parkside (30).
The Tritons are being tested by eight squads which advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament last season and a rigorous 15 road games this season.

The Tritons dropped a 76-46 decision to Augustana (S.D.) Nov. 23, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

UMSL then opened the home portion of its schedule with a 73-55 loss to Washburn on Dec. 4, which advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Tritons earned a 53-50 victory at Grand Valley State Dec. 15, a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

In GLVC action, UMSL faces Drury, an NCAA Tournament quarterfinalist and Lewis, which advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Bellarmine, SIU Edwardsville and Northern Kentucky also qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.

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