February 27, 2008

Women's Basketball Ends Season at Southern Indiana Saturday

GAME NOTES

THE SETTING: With just one game remaining on its schedule, the Missouri-St. Louis women’s basketball team will look to end its season on a high note by earning a victory at Southern Indiana Saturday.

The game also marks the fourth and final contest of a four-game roadswing that will close out the schedule.

THE SERIES: UMSL stands at 8-23 against Southern Indiana and have won just once in the last 13 meetings, a 61-56 decision in Evansville, Ind., during the 2005-06 season.

EARLIER THIS SEASON: A second half rally fell short for UMSL, as the Tritons dropped a 77-72 verdict to Southern Indiana in their Great Lakes Valley Conference home opener on Jan. 3 in St. Louis.

The Screaming Eagles led by as many as 22 early in the second half and held a 68-52 lead with 7:11 to play before UMSL went on an 18-3 run to pull within 71-70 on a pair of free throws by sophomore Kristi White at the 1:25 mark. But the Screaming Eagles would hold on for the win by connecting on 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute of the game.

Senior Courtney Watts paced the Tritons offense with 15 points and seven assists. Freshman Kelly Mitchell and senior Amanda Miller added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Screaming Eagles held a 41-24 halftime lead.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Southern Indiana enters a Thursday contest with Missouri S&T with a 9-16 record, including a 4-13 mark in the GLVC and sit in fifth place in the league standings - a half game ahead of UMSL.

Jasmine Baines paces the offense, averaging 17 points per game. She also leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 7.3 boards per game

THE OPPOSING COACH: Rick Stein is in his ninth season at Southern Indiana where he owns a record of 152-108.

AN UMSL WIN WOULD...:
... give the Tritons a final season record of 8-19, including 5-14 in the GLVC.
... snap a three-game losing streak to Southern Indiana.

SENIOR STAR PART I: Senior Courtney Watts is ranked in the top 10 in 11 different career categories, including: free throws made (3rd - 269); assists (3rd - 361); free throws attempted (4th - 359); steals (4th - 139); assists average (5th - 3.4 apg); three-point field goals attempted (6th - 386); three-point field goals made (6th - 126); free throw percentage (7th - 74.9%); three-point field goal percentage (8th - 32.6%); steals average (10th - 1.3); points (8 - 1,027).

1,000 AND COUNTING: Courtney Watts became the 11th member of UMSL’s 1,000-point club against Quincy on Feb. 16. 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 534 career rebounds, which ranks seventh 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 186 in her career, the ninth best effort all-time.

AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT TAYLOR: Taylor Gagliano is shooting at a 38.5 percent clip from beyond the three-point line during her career, which ranks second all-time in school history.

THREE’S THE WAY: Twice in one 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 three games. The Tritons have had 10 or more three-pointers six times.

UMSL also leads the GLVC in three-point field goals made, averaging 7.54 per game and ranks 16th in all of NCAA Division II.

TRITON TIDBITS:
• Mary Slaughter has a team-best two double-doubles this season, including a 10-point, 12-rebound effort Tuesday night at Missouri-Rolla. She also notched a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds against SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 14.
• Courtney Watts was held scoreless for just the third time in her career Tuesday at Missouri-Rolla.
• 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 425 games: Courtney Watts (107), Leslie Ricker (107), Taylor Gagliano (107), Amanda Miller (104).
• 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.

TRITON TRENDS:
• Kristi White is shooting 45.4 percent (5-of-11) from three-point range in the last three games.
• Mary Slaughter is averaging 10 rebounds in the last two 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. 25, UMSL is ranked as having the 29th toughest schedule in the country, which is fourth in the GLVC, behind Drury (21), Lewis (23) and Quincy (25).

The Tritons have been 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 faced 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.
Return To Articles