Jan. 31, 2008

WACO, Texas -

Complete Release in PDF Format

#6/6 Baylor (19-1, 7-0) vs. #18/21 Kansas State (15-5, 7-0)
Saturday, Feb. 2 - 12:00 p.m.
Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) - Manhattan, Kan.

OVER THE AIRWAVES
Television - Fox Sports Network

Brian Anderson (Play-by-play)
Debbie Antonelli (Color analyst)

Internet Feeds
Webcast: None

Audio: Live audio stream at BaylorBears.com

Radio: KLRK - 92.9 FM - Waco

Radio Talent:
Rick May, play-by-play
Lori Fogleman, color analyst

BAYLOR AND KANSAS STATE
No. 6 Baylor, starting Big 12 Conference play at 7-0 for the first time in the league's 12-year history, puts its 12-game win streak on the line when it hits the road to take on the 18th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 12:00 p.m.

Baylor, 19-1 on the season and 7-0 in Big 12 action, has matched its best start in program history, while the Wildcats, winners of 10 straight games, are 15-5 on the year and 7-0 in league play.

The Baylor-Kansas State matchup marks the latest in the conference schedule (eighth game) that two undefeated Big 12 teams have faced each other. The game versus No. 18 Kansas State marks the second of three straight games against ranked opponents and the second of three games in a seven-day span. Baylor hosted No. 25 Texas on Wednesday, plays at No. 18 Kansas State on Saturday (12 p.m.) and at No. 21 Oklahoma State on Tuesday (7 p.m.).

After downing Texas on Wednesday, Baylor posted its second-longest conference win streak, seven straight league wins. Baylor's longest Big 12 win streak came in 2005 when it closed out its league schedule with 11 straight wins, earning the Big 12 Championship.

BAYLOR LADY BEARS

IN THE POLLS
6 - Associated Press
6 - USA Today/ESPN Coaches

PROBABLE STARTERS
G-3 Jessica Morrow - Jr., 6-0 - 11.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg
P-11 Danielle Wilson - So., 6-3 - 11.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg
G-15 Jhasmin Player - Jr., 5-10 - 12.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg
P-14 Rachel Allison - Jr., 6-1 - 13.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg
G-20 Angela Tisdale - Sr., 5-7 - 15.3 ppg, 2.7 apg

TOP RESERVES
P-1 Jessika Bradley - So., 6-3 - 4.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg
G-5 Melissa Jones - Fr., 5-10 - 5.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS

IN THE POLLS
18 - Associated Press
21 - USA Today/ESPN Coaches

PROBABLE STARTERS
F-4 Ashley Sweat - So., 6-2 - 11.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg
G-5 Shalee Lehning - Jr., 5-9 - 10.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg
G-13 Kimberly Dietz - Sr., 5-9 - 15.3 ppg, 2.7 rpg
G-41 Kari Kincaid - So., 5-10 - 6.0 ppg, 1.6 rpg
F-51 Marlies Gipson - Jr., 6-0 - 11.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg

TOP RESERVES
G-30 Shana Wheeler - Sr., 6-2 - 3.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg

LADY BEAR LEADERS
With 20 games under their belt, the Lady Bears boast five players averaging double-digit scoring. Leading the way is the squad's lone senior, point guard Angela Tisdale, with 15.3 a contest, while Rachel Allison, a junior forward/post, manages 13.6 points and a team-leading 7.9 rebounds a game. Junior guard Jhasmin Player follows with 12.6 a contest and sophomore post Danielle Wilson manages 11.7 points an outing. Junior guard/forward Jessica Morrow completes Baylor's double-digit scoring with 11.1.

In addition to Allison's 7.9 boards, four other players haul down 4.4 or more rebounds an outing. Wilson manages 7.1 a game while Player averages 6.3, freshman Melissa Jones manages 5.0 and sophomore post Jessika Bradley snags 4.4.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP IN THE CLUTCH
Baylor's lone senior, point guard Angela Tisdale has shown that in the clutch, she can get it done.

- In Baylor's 59-56 win over No. 13 Texas A&M, Tisdale missed her first 10 3-point attempts, but made her first trey of the day with 38 seconds left to give the Bears a one-point lead and Baylor went on to win.

- On the road against No. 11 Oklahoma, an 84-73 victory, Tisdale scored a career-high 35 points and helped put some distance between the Lady Bears and Sooners when she scored seven points in an 8-1 run midway through the second half. After sinking a 3-pointer from the top of the key, she scored a basket in transition off Melissa Jones' steal and then hit two free throws that extended Baylor's lead to 66-59 with 8 minutes remaining.

- In Baylor's one-point win over No. 25 Texas (61-60), Tisdale scored 19 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer with 19 seconds left.

ALLISON NAMED TO MIDSEASON NAISMITH TROPHY LIST
Junior Rachel Allison was among 31 players named to the 2008 Naismith Trophy midseason list it was announced recently by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The women's list, which includes 31 candidates because of a tie, was voted on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. The board based its criteria on player performances this season, and the list was narrowed down from the preseason list of 50 candidates who were announced at the beginning of the season.

A Big 12 Player of the Week selection this season, Allison, a 6-1 forward, averages 13.6 points and a team-leading 7.9 rebounds a game, 41 percent of which are off the offensive glass. The Jonesboro, Ark., native ranks among the league leaders in rebounding (4th), free throw percentage (11th) and scoring (14th).

DEFENSE
Superior defense as well as a balanced offense has led Baylor to a 19-1 season mark. The Lady Bears rank among the NCAA's top in several defensive categories: No. 4 - field goal percentage defense (.343), No. 5 - blocked shots (6.5), No. 9 - scoring defense (53.8), No. 56 - steals (10.6). Among Big 12 defensive categories, the Lady Bears are No. 1 in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and blocks; No. 2 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.258).

ONE OF THREE
The Lady Bears are one of only three teams in NCAA Division I to have five players scoring in double digits and one of two to have all five starters in double figures.

Current teams with five players scoring in double figures:
No. 3 North Carolina - 16.1, 13.5, 12.5, 11.4 10.6* (next game Thursday)
No. 6 Baylor - 15.3, 13.6, 12.6 11.7, 11.1 (next game Saturday)
Radford - 11.8, 11.8, 11.8, 11.8. 10.0 (next game Saturday)
* - comes off the bench

THINK PINK
The Baylor Lady Bears will be participating in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "THINK PINK" campaign supporting breast cancer awareness. The Lady Bears have designated their Feb. 9th game versus Texas Tech as the "Think Pink" game. Lady Bear players and coaches will incorporate pink into their game attire.

LADY BEARS AND BEARS IN AP POLL
With its men's team breaking into the AP's top 25 last week for the first time in 39 years, Baylor is one of just eight schools to have both its men's and women's team ranked among the top 25 nationally this week. The Lady Bears are ranked No. 6 while the Bears are No. 25 for the second week in a row. Other schools that have both teams ranked among the nation's top 25 include Tennessee, North Carolina, Stanford, Duke, Pittsburgh, Kansas State and Texas.

Baylor sports a combined 35-4 record for its women's and men's teams with the Lady Bears at 19-1 and the Bears at 16-3.

BAYLOR QUICK HITS
- Baylor ranks among the top eight in all four RPI rating services: No. 6 Jeff Sagarin, No. 7 in both College Basketball News and collegerpi.com and No. 8 in NCAA. This ranks No. 1 among Big 12 schools. The Big 12 ranks No. 1 in all RPI listings.

- The contest versus Kansas State marks Baylor's sixth game versus a ranked opponent in 2007-08; Baylor is now 4-1 versus ranked teams. It defeated then-No. 12 California (69-56), lost to then-No. 5 Stanford (87-63), downed then-No. 13 Texas A&M (59-56), triumphed over 11th-rated Oklahoma (84-73) and beat 25th-ranked Texas (61-60).

- 2007-08 team captains - senior Angela Tisdale and juniors Rachel Allison and Jhasmin Player.

- In Baylor's current 12-game win streak, Rachel Allison has averaged 15.3 points and 8.7 rebounds a game.

- Baylor's No. 6 AP ranking is its highest listing since the Jan. 11, 2006, poll when it ranked No. 5.

- Baylor ranks in the top 10 in NCAA Division I statistics in seven categories as of games through Jan. 27: No. 2 in won-lost percentage (94.7); No. 4 in both scoring margin (+23.5) and field goal percentage defense (33.8); No. 5 in blocked shots (6.7) and ; No. 8 in rebounding margin (+9.9), No. 9 in scoring defense (.535) and No. 10 in scoring offense (77.0).

- Danielle Wilson's 3.1 blocks per game rank her No. 8 nationally.

- All five Baylor starters are averaging double-digit scoring: Angela Tisdale (15.3), Rachel Allison (13.6), Jhasmin Player (12.6), Danielle Wilson (11.7), Jessica Morrow (11.1).

- BU owns the top game high mark in the league in six categories this season: FG % (.604 vs. N.C. A&T), FT made (42 vs. St. Mary's), FT attempts (58 vs. St. Mary's), rebounds (63 vs. Howard), blocked shots (15 vs. Oregon), turnovers (30 vs. Howard).

- The Lady Bears have shot 44.3 percent or higher in 13 of 20 games this season and have posted a 50.0 percent or higher mark in seven games.

- Baylor has shot 50 percent or higher from 3-point range in five games.

- BU is 104-19 (.846) since the start of the 2004-05 season with 16 of the 19 setbacks coming at the hands of nationally ranked opponents. Baylor's last 14 losses have come to ranked opponents.

- Danielle Wilson has blocked at least one shot in 47 of 53 career games, including 4 or more 17 times and 3 or more on 21 occasions. Wilson's wing span is 82.25 inches, only 5 inches less than Mamadou Diene, the 7-foot center on the Baylor men's team.

- Tisdale has 440 career assists and needs just 18 to claim the top spot on BU's career chart from Chelsea Whitaker (457, 2002-05). She is the fourth player in school history to score more than 1,000 points and dish out at least 400 career assists.

- Jhasmin Players' 13-of-13 effort from the free throw line against Saint Mary's and Danielle Wilson's nine blocks against Oregon both rank No. 1 in the Big 12.

- The trio of Danielle Wilson (57), Jessika Bradley (23) and Jessica Morrow (21) have combined for 101 of the team's 129 season blocks.

- On the season, Baylor has outscored its opponents by an average of 22.4 points a game and hauled down 9.2 more rebounds a contest. However, in Big 12 Conference play Baylor has outscored it opponents by 11.3 points a game and is +1.0 in rebounds.

- Baylor led NCAA Division I last season in blocks per game with 7.2. So far this season the Lady Bears are averaging 6.7 a contest to rank No. 5 nationally.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
The 18th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats, 15-5 on the season and 7-0 in conference action, bring a 9-0 home record into Saturday afternoon's contest. The Wildcats have won 10 straight and 11 of their last 12 games, their lone loss during that period was at Creighton (69-62).

Kansas State head coach Deb Patterson is 233-133 in her 12th year as a head coach.

The Wildcats are led in scoring by 5-9 junior guard Kimberly Dietz's 15.3 points. Sophomore Mariles Gibson, a 6-0 forward, ranks second on the squad in scoring at 11.9 a game and is the team's top rebounder at 8.2 a game. Ashley Sweat, a 6-2 sophomore forward, averages 11.0 points a game and 5-9 junior guard Shalee Lehning averages 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds a contest.

SERIES RECORD
Baylor and Kansas State will meet for the 18th time when the two teams square off on Saturday afternoon. Baylor owns a 9-8 series lead and currently enjoys a five-game win streak. Kansas State's most recent triumph over Baylor came on Jan. 27, 2004 in Manhattan, Kan.

The Lady Bears are 1-4 versus the Wildcats in Manhattan, their lone victory in Bramlage Coliseum came Feb. 25, 2006, 79-70. Head coach Kim Mulkey owns a 7-4 record against Kansas State.

BAYLOR IN BIG 12 GAMES
The 2007-08 season marks the 12th year of competition for women's basketball in the Big 12 Conference. Baylor has a record of 110-73 all-time in regular season Big 12 games. However, in Kim Mulkey's eight years, Baylor is 83-36 in Big 12 play and has never posted a losing conference record. In 2004-05 the Lady Bears claimed their first-ever Big 12 Conference championship, winning both the regular season and tournament titles.

Lady Bears under Kim Mulkey in regular season Big 12 games:
2000-01 - 9-7
2001-02 - 12-4
2002-03 - 8-8
2003-04 - 10-6
2004-05 - 14-2
2005-06 - 12-4
2006-07 - 11-5
2007-08 - 7-0 (best Baylor start in league history)

TISDALE JOINS ELITE GROUP
With her 18-point performance against Rice, senior point guard Angela Tisdale became the 24th Lady Bears to score 1,000 career points. She now has 1,153 career points to her credit.

In Baylor's 84-73 victory over 11th-ranked Oklahoma, Tisdale poured in a career-high 35 points, 15 of which came from 3-point range. She is now No. 2 on Baylor's career 3-point list and ranks No. 20 on the Baylor all-time scoring list.

PLAYER SHOWS VERSATILITY
Junior guard Jhasmin Player has developed into one of the Lady Bears' most versatile players. She is averaging 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and a team-leading 3.6 assists a game. In addition, she ranks second on the squad in steals with 37. She is shooting 50.8 percent (93-183) from the floor and 68.8 percent (53-77) from the charity stripe. Also impressive is the fact that prior to this season she was 1-for 6 (.167) from 3-point range and began the season 0-4 from long range. Since that time she's nailed 12-of-27 (.444) and is 12-for-31 (.387) for the season. The Bay City, Texas, native has produced two perfect games from beyond the arc with 3-for-3 performances against both Oregon and Texas Tech.

Her assist/turnover ratio is impressive as well at 1.67, a team-leading 72 assists with only 43 turnovers.

ALLISON'S GOT A NOSE FOR THE BALL
Despite being the shortest of Baylor's posts, 6-1 junior Rachel Allison leads the Lady Bears in rebounding at 7.9 a game. She has hauled down 158 rebounds this season, 41.1 percent (65) of which came off the offensive glass. In addition, she has registered a team-leading 39 steals, 22 assists and 14 blocks on the year.

BAYLOR'S BLOCK MACHINE
Sophomore post Danielle Wilson owns two of the top marks in the Big 12 this season in blocks when she rejected nine shots against Oregon and seven at 11th-ranked Oklahoma. In fact, four of Wilson's seven against Oklahoma came in the second half with the Sooners' two-time All-American Courtney Paris as the victim.

She has blocked 57 shots which ranks No. 2 in the conference in block average at 3.0 a game, that mark also ranks her No. 8 nationally. With her 16 blocks over the past five games, Wilson now has 143 career blocks and ranks No. 2 on Baylor's career list, passing Kacy Moffitt's 141. She needs just 17 rejections to surpass Steffanie Blackmon's top mark of 159.

In Baylor's 61-60 victory over Texas, the Longhorns had a chance at winning the game, but Kathleen Nash's shot with 3.4 seconds, left was blocked by Wilson, her only block of the game.