The Missouri State Lady Bears (0-1) kick off their 32nd and final home season in Hammons Student Center Saturday (Nov. 17) afternoon with a 1:05 p.m. matchup against the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix. Since its move to Division I status in 1982, Missouri State is 19-6 in home openers. Last year, the Lady Bears dropped a 67-54 decision to Arkansas State in its first home game. The Lady Bears will be attempting to rebound from Sunday’s 92-55 season-opening loss at #22 Texas, while the Phoenix will be looking for another victory over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent after knocking off Drake last Friday in their first game of the 2007-08 season.
Last Time Out: In last Sunday’s season opener in Austin, Missouri State never recovered from an early 18-0 Texas scoring run. The Longhorns’ offensive spurt was aided by a sluggish Lady Bear offense that connected on just three of its first 23 field-goal attempts while committing 12 turnovers in the first seven minutes of the ballgame. After a pair of Maggie Dwyer free throws evened the score at 4-4 with 17:37 left on the clock, the Longhorns turned up the defensive pressure over the next four minutes to build a 22-4 advantage. Texas led by as many as 22 in the first half, before settling for a 41-23 lead at the break, as the Lady Bears turned the ball over 18 times and shot just 24.2 percent (8-of-33) from the floor in the period.
Missouri State cut into the Texas lead by scoring the first five points of the second half, pulling to within 41-28 on Tahnee Balerio’s three-pointer from the right wing with 18:41 to play. But the Longhorns hit 29-of-33 free-throw attempts, including 20-of-22 in the second half, and shot 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field to spoil new Missouri State head coach Nyla Milleson’s debut.
Balerio paced the Lady Bears with 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range, while Dwyer added 16 points in her first game in a Missouri State uniform.
Green Bay is 1-0 entering its Thursday night matchup against Illinois State in Normal. In the first of three straight games against Valley opponents, Green Bay picked up a big 78-66 road win over MVC preseason favorite Drake in Des Moines to start its season. Senior guard Kayla Groh went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to total 20 points and lead five Green Bay players in double figures, as the Phoenix shot just under 52 percent from the field and connected on 10-of-15 three-point attempts.
The Coaches: Nyla Milleson (Kansas State, ’85) is 0-1 in her first season as the head coach at Missouri State and 185-37 overall. The Goodland, Kan., native led Drury University to a 185-36 mark in seven seasons, highlighted by a national runner-up finish in 2003-04. In all, the Lady Panthers made five NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and advanced to the Sweet 16 in four of those years. Milleson was honored as Heartland Conference Coach of the Year four times, as Drury won five conference titles in all.
Matt Bollant (Winona State, ’94) is in his first season as head coach at Green Bay after succeeding Kevin Borseth as the third head coach in the 34-year history of the program. Bollant compiled a 134-38 record in five seasons as head coach at Bryan (Tenn.) College, where he led the Lady Lions to NAIA national tournament appearances in each of the last four seasons. Prior to accepting the head coaching job at Bryan, Bollant served as an assistant coach under Kathi Bennett at both Indiana and Evansville.
Series Record: Saturday’s contest will be the first-ever meeting between two of the winningest programs in women’s college basketball. UW-Green Bay has 176 wins over the last seven years, good for the 12th most in Division I over that span. Missouri State has posted 138 victories in that same time frame, ranking the Lady Bears 46th in the country. The two programs have combined for 1,325 victories in 72 seasons of competition.
Scouting Green Bay: Coming off a 29-4 season, Green Bay went 16-0 in the Horizon League and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2006-07. This year, the Phoenix will be led by a new coach, as Matt Bollant takes over for Kevin Borseth, who accepted the Michigan head coaching job last spring after guiding Green Bay to seven NCAA appearances and nine Horizon League titles in his nine seasons at the school. The Phoenix have posted 30 consecutive winning seasons, a streak that trails only Tennessee (34) and Louisiana Tech (33) for the longest such streak in Division I. Additionally, Green Bay has won 20 or more games in each of the last eight seasons.
Picked to finish second in this season’s Horizon League preseason poll, Green Bay returns two starters and six letterwinners from last year’s club. Leading the pack is junior guard Rachel Porath, a preseason all-conference selection who shot 53.5 percent from the field and nearly 44 percent from three-point range last year. Senior guard Kayla Groh is a three-year starter who finished 20th nationally in free throw percentage after hitting 85.9 percent of her attempts from the foul line in 2006-07. The Phoenix also return their top three performers off the bench. A trio of juniors, including guard Kati Harty (5.6 ppg./2.2 rpg./2.2 apg.), forward Erin Templin (5.2 ppg./3.3 rpg.) and center Lavesa Glover (5.9 ppg./3.1 rpg.), saw significant playing time in 2006-07 and should step into more prominent roles this season.
For Openers: With their 92-55 loss at #22 Texas, the Lady Bears are now 20-19 all-time in season openers and have dropped their last four contests on opening night. The 37-point setback is the largest margin of defeat in a MSU season opener since the Lady Bears lost a 43-point decision (94-51) at Arkansas to start the 1985-86 season. It is also MSU’s worst loss since Jan. 6, 2002, when it fell by an 84-47 score at Creighton.
Sunday’s game also marked the fifth year in a row Missouri State has played its first game away from Hammons Student Center. Last year, MSU lost to Iowa, 79-70, in its season opener in Kansas City after dropping the first game of 2005-06 at Arkansas State and its 2004-05 opener at Richmond.
MSU vs. Ranked Opponents: Sunday’s game versus #22 Texas was the Lady Bears’ first season opener versus a ranked opponent since the 2000-01 season when they defeated #10 LSU, 85-75.
MSU is 2-2 all-time versus ranked teams in season openers.
The Lady Bears are now 19-35 all-time versus ranked opponents and have lost nine straight against top 25 teams.
Missouri State’s last win over a ranked foe came against Gail Goestenkors’ fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the 2001 NCAA West Regional semifinal (3/24/01).
On this Date in Lady Bears History: November 17, 1994 - Missouri State 61, Virginia Tech 45 - After the Lady Bears fell behind early, Marsha Burton came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points during a 15-2 first-half run that gave MSU the lead for good. After leading 31-20 at halftime, the Lady Bears saw the Hokies pull to within 39-37 at the 12:08 mark before closing out the victory with a 22-8 run.
Chart Toppers: Saturday’s game will feature the nation’s top free-throw shooting teams from each of the past three seasons. UW-Green Bay led Division I in team free-throw percentage in 2006-07 after knocking down 80.1 percent (447-of-558) of its free throws. Missouri State finished atop the NCAA leaderboard in the same category in each of the two preceding seasons. In 2004-05, the Lady Bears shot .790 to lead all Division I teams, then hit 79.3 percent the following year to repeat the feat to become just the second team in the history of NCAA women’s basketball to lead the country in foul line proficiency in consecutive seasons.
Personnel: The 2007-08 Lady Bears’ roster includes two seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen. The 13-member group includes six returning letterwinners and seven newcomers. The Lady Bears return four starters from last season, including All-MVC first team guard Tahnee Balerio. Also returning are 2006-07 starters Tiff Terwelp, Roxy Stiles and Ashley Lord. Other returnees include Melissa Busby and Breton Wyett. Newcomers include Jamie Adams, Marisha Brown, Tiffany Coppage, Maggie Dwyer, Jacque Griggs, Janette Jackson and Jasmyne Watson.
Lady Bear Captains: Senior Tahnee Balerio, senior Tiff Terwelp and junior Tiffany Coppage will serve as tri-captains for the 2007-08 season.
Preseason Picks: Missouri State was picked to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll of coaches, media and sports information directors. The Lady Bears received 136 points, while preseason favorite Drake received 24 of 40 first-place votes and 348 total points.
Missouri State All-Time: Missouri State is in its 39th season of women’s collegiate basketball and has an all-time record of 653-437 (.599) for a total of 1,090 games. MSU began formal competition in 1969 and has now posted 26 winning seasons and made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Lady Bears advanced to the Final Four in 1992 and 2001 and the Sweet Sixteen in 1993.
Affiliation: Missouri State is in its 26th NCAA Division I season and 16th MVC year. MSU was in AIAW competition on the state, regional and national levels through the 1981-82 season, moved to Division I and Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference play in 1982-83 and started MVC competition in 1992-93.
Missouri State Post-Season Run: One or both of the MSU basketball teams have made post-season appearances in each of the last 22 years.
With last year’s 7-21 finish, the Lady Bears missed the postseason for the first time since the 1996-97 season. The MSU women have seen postseason action in nine of the past 10 years and in 15 out of the last 17 seasons, dating back to the 1990-91 campaign.
Balerio Cracks Career Top 10 Lists: Senior guard Tahnee Balerio broke into the MSU career top 10 for three-point field-goal attempts on Jan. 13, 2007 in a loss at Illinois State. She surpassed current Lady Bear assistant coach Carly (Deer) Stubblefield with her 205th attempt for the 10th spot and surpassed Morgan Hohenberger (238) for the ninth slot when she went 1-of-7 from beyond the arc against Wichita State (2/3/07). Against Drake (2/23/07), Balerio eclipsed K.C. Cowgill (277) for the number eight spot by going 4-of-8 from three-point range. She needs just four more attempts to match Tina Robbins’ 317 career three-point attempts in the No. 7 slot.
Balerio also moved past Stubblefield for the No. 9 slot on MSU’s all-time three-point field goals list with her 72nd career trey in a 68-65 loss at Wichita State (2/3/07).
More Milestones for Balerio: Balerio hit five three pointers in a game for the fourth time in her MSU career in the Lady Bears’ season-opening loss at Texas (11/11/07). Her final trey of the afternoon with 6:29 left to play represented the 100th three-point field goal of her career.
Balerio also grabbed five boards against the Longhorns to top the 200-rebound plateau for her career. In doing so, she became just the ninth Lady Bear to record 800 points, 200 rebounds and 200 assists since assists have been recorded. Balerio joined Lisa Davies, Melody Howard, Jenni Lingor, Kari Koch, Jessie McVay, Tina Robbins, Jackie Stiles and Secilia Winkfield as the only MSU players to accomplish the feat.
New Look Lady Bears: For the second consecutive season, two Missouri State freshman found their way into the starting lineup in a season opener. Marisha Brown and Jacque Griggs each drew starting assignments versus Texas, as six players in all made their MSU debuts against the Longhorns.
Trouble in Texas: In their convincing 92-55 victory over MSU, Texas forced 29 Lady Bear turnovers, the most committed by a Missouri State squad since Nov. 26, 2002, when the Lady Bears turned the ball over 32 times in an 85-76 win over Southeast Missouri State.
500/500 Club: Senior forward Tiff Terwelp reached the 500 rebound mark for her MSU career when she grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in MSU’s loss to Illinois State (2/10/07). The Quincy, Ill., native surpassed the 500-point milestone vs. DePaul (12/3/06), and currently has 694 career points, making her just the 16th player in Missouri State history to record both 500 points and 500 rebounds. Sarah Klaassen was the most recent Lady Bear to achieve the feat, finishing her career with 1,045 points and 542 rebounds in 2006.
Wyett Moves to No. 2: Junior forward Breton Wyett blocked three shots in the Lady Bears’ loss at SIU (3/1/07) to move into second place on the MSU career blocks list. The Edmond, Okla., native passed Kelly Mago (84) for the second spot in just 51 career games as a Lady Bear. After recording one block in the season opener at Texas, she needs 132 more blocks to reach Sharon Zeilmann’s school record of 221 and just two more rejections to move onto the MVC’s career top 20 list.
Wyett also cracked the MSU top 10 list for single season blocks for the second straight year in 2006-07. She completed the campaign with 45 blocks, good for the fourth-highest total in school history. In all, Wyett posted 10 games of three blocks or more last season and led the Valley in blocks per game with a 1.96 average.
On the Road Again: Since snapping a seven-game road losing streak with an 83-76 win over Indiana State in Terre Haute last January, the Lady Bears have dropped their last eight contests on the road and their last nine away from Hammons Student Center. Over the last two years, Missouri State has won just two true road games and only four of its 28 games away from Hammons.
