Lady Bears Look to Close Non-Conference Season in Style

Missouri State Lady Bears (7-3) vs. SIU Edwardsville Cougars (2-10) 

Dates: Tuesday, December 22, 2009Time: 7:05 p.m.Site: Vadalabene Center (4,000)Location: Edwardsville, Ill.Radio: "The Jock" 98.7 KWTO FM (Rob Evans)TV: Mediacom (MCC-22) (Don West, Whitney Scott)Live Audio: www.radiospringfield.comLive Video: NoneLive Stats: www.SIUECougars.comUpcoming: December 31 vs. Bradley

Game Overview
The Missouri State Lady Bears (7-3) will close out the non-conference season Tuesday (Dec. 22) evening when they meet the SIU Edwardsville Cougars (2-10) in a 7:05 p.m. contest at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Ill.

Missouri State will be shooting for its fourth straight victory after running away with a 99-81 win at Oral Roberts on Saturday. SIUE, on the other hand, will be trying to halt a four-game skid following a 12-point setback to Toledo on Sunday.

Tuesday's game will be the second of eight MSU regular-season contests televised by Mediacom (MCC-22) during the 2009-10 season. Don West will call the action with Whitney Scott providing color commentary. The Lady Bears return home on Dec. 31 to open the Missouri Valley Conference season with a 1:05 p.m. match-up against the Bradley Braves.

Quick Hits
► All five Lady Bear starters are averaging at least 8.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game through the first 10 games of the season
► Missouri State leads the Valley in scoring (75.9 ppg.), assists (16.7), steals (10.0) and offensive rebounding (15.5) coming into the week; MSU ranks 24th in the nation in team scoring and 27th in assists
► Nyla Milleson earned her 400th career coaching victory Saturday at Oral Roberts; Milleson has 213 victories at the collegiate level, as well as 187 wins as a high school coach, over her 20 years as a head coach
► Casey Garrison leads the MVC in scoring (18.2 ppg.) and assists (6.4 apg.), ranking 42nd and 13th, respectively, in the nation in those two categories entering the week; she also paces the league in assist-turnover ratio (1.9) and offensive rebounding (3.7 rpg.)
► Sophomore guard Jaleshia Roberson became the fourth Lady Bear this season to receive a player of the week honor from the Valley on Monday

Last Time Out
Behind Jaleshia Roberson's career-high 32 points and their best shooting effort in five seasons, the Missouri State Lady Bears sprinted past Oral Roberts, 99-81, Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center. Roberson connected on 8-of-12 three-point attempts, including 5-of-7 in the second half to help MSU overcome the Golden Eagles' high-powered offense and improve to 7-3 on the season.

Roberson, who went 12-of-19 from the floor overall, accounted for 16 points during a 30-15 run over an eight-minute span in the second half immediately after ORU had pulled to within 45-41. The Kansas City native sparked the run by draining a three at the 16:33 mark, then connected successfully on two more long-distance tries over the ensuing two minutes. Her triple with 8:29 left capped the spurt and handed MSU a 19-point edge that the Golden Eagles would never seriously threaten.

The Lady Bears would stretch their lead to as many as 27 in the closing minutes, ending the game with their best offensive half of the season. MSU would outscore ORU 56-48 in the period while shooting a blazing .613 from the field, including a 7-of-13 (.538) effort from three-point range.

Four Lady Bears joined Roberson in double digits, including Jasmine Malone, who was a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. She totaled 15 points to go along with a team high seven rebounds and a career-high four assists. Melissa Busby also turned in a strong all-around effort, chipping in 16 points, three assists and two steals, while Casey Garrison contributed 10 points, eight assists, five boards and five steals.

Missouri State's runaway victory didn't come without a fight from the Golden Eagles, who entered the game averaging a Division I-best 90 points per contest. MSU connected on 18-of-37 (.486) field goal attempts in the opening period to overcome 12 early turnovers and take a 43-33 lead into the halftime locker room.

ORU jumped out to an early five-point lead on threes by Jaci Bigham and Georgia Jones, but the Lady Bears went to work from three-point range, drilling four threes over a four and-a-half minute stretch to build a nine-point advantage. Roberson would hit on three of her five attempts from long range and score 11 points in the half, and her second trey of the game with 12;54 to go snapped a 12-12 tie and gave the Lady Bears a lead they would never relinquish.

The Lady Bears would push their lead to as many as 13 late in the period, but ORU's Kevi Luper kept the home team within striking distance with 12 first-half points.

The Golden Eagles (7-4) sliced into the MSU lead in the early stages of the second half by scoring eight of the first 10 points coming out of the break. A Jordan Pyle bucket at the 14:34 mark capped a 13-6 run for the Golden Eagles and trimmed the ORU deficit to 51-48.

But Roberson's hot hand carried the Lady Bears, who would go on to post their best single-game shooting performance since hitting 57.6 percent of their field goal attempts against Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 WNIT (3/24/05). Saturday's point total also represented MSU's top offensive showing since March 8, 2003, when they recorded a 107-53 win over Evansville, and its best offensive effort on the road in nearly 18 years, dating back to a 109-45 win at Western Illinois on Feb. 13, 1992.

Luper led five ORU players in double figures with 24 points on 10-of-25 shooting. The Golden Eagles also enjoyed a strong showing from three-point range, hitting on 6-of-14 attempts in the second half and 11 tries for the game.

Series History
Tuesday's meeting will be the fourth between the Lady Bears and Cougars, but the first since the 1982-83 campaign, MSU's first season at the Division I level. The Lady Bears have taken each of the first three contests in the series with SIUE, including a 73-56 victory in their only previous meeting in Edwardsville in November of 1981.   

The Coaches
Nyla Milleson (Kansas State, '85) is in her third season as the head coach at Missouri State with a 28-42 mark as the Lady Bears' mentor and an overall record of 213-78 in 10 years as a collegiate head coach. Prior to taking the reins of the MSU program, the Goodland, Kan., native guided Drury University to a 185-36 record 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, advancing 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. Milleson is a perfect 5-0 against SIUE, with all five wins coming during her time at Drury. Including her 187 wins at the high school level, Milleson notched her 400th career coaching victory with MSU's win at Oral Roberts last weekend.

Amanda Levens (Arizona State, '02) is in her second year as head coach of the Cougars, entering Tuesday's contest with an overall record of 7-34. SIUE is the first head coaching post for Levens, who came to Edwardsville after serving as an assistant at Nevada for five seasons.

Scouting the Lady Bears
Missouri State entered the season looking for its first winning campaign in four years. Last year's edition of the Lady Bears went 10-20 overall and finished seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference behind a deep freshman class that accounted for 68 percent of the club's offensive production.

The Lady Bears have gotten balanced contributions across the board, as all five starters are averaging better than eight points per game coming into Tuesday's contest. Sophomore Casey Garrison has picked up right where she left off a year ago when she led all Division I true freshman in total scoring. So far, the Bolivar, Mo., native is the top scorer and assister in the MVC, ranking 13th nationally in assists per game (6.4) entering the week. Garrison is also among the circuit's leaders in rebounding (3rd-8.1 rpg.) and steals (3rd-2.9 spg.). Her backcourt mate Jasmine Malone has been a consistent performer on both ends of the court, chipping in 10.4 points and 5.8 boards per outing, as well as 15 steals to rate among the MVC's individual leaders. Sophomore Lacey Boshe is MSU's fourth-leading scorer, averaging 8.8 ppg., while her .531 field goal percentage leads the club and ranks third in the conference. Sophomore Jaleshia Roberson enters the week on a hot streak, having scored a career-high 32 points in MSU's win at Oral Roberts on Saturday. Roberson has connected on 24 of her last 45 (.533) three-point attempts and has amassed the second-highest assist total (30) on the club. Freshman Christiana Shorter (8.2 ppg./4.4 rpg.) has come into her own over the last few weeks, earning all-tournament honors at Kansas State and entering Tuesday's game with three double-digit scoring efforts in her last five outings. Senior Melissa Busby is another MSU threat from long range, coming into the week shooting .324 from beyond the three-point arc. The Edmond, Okla., native also ranks 10th on the Lady Bears' career three-point field goals chart with 110 makes.

As a team, MSU is outscoring the opposition by 5.6 points per contest and shooting .444, while its defense has forced 192 turnovers in 10 games this season. The Lady Bears have also been strong on the glass, outrebounding their 10 opponents by an average of 2.6 boards per game.

Scouting the Cougars
SIUE returns two starters and four letterwinners from last year's club that went 5-24 in the school's first Division I season. The Cougars are 2-10 so far this year, with home wins over Morehead State and UMKC to their credit. Freshman center Raven Berry leads the Cougars in scoring and rebounding, entering the week with averages of 14.1 points and 7.8 boards per contest. Her .490 field goal percentage is far and away the top individual mark for SIUE. Springfield Central product Danielle Bennett is also contributing for the Cougars in her freshman campaign. The 5-11 forward has converted 15-of-46 (.326) three-point attempts and enters Tuesday's game with a 7.6 ppg. average, the fourth-highest on the team. On the perimeter, the Cougars are paced by sophomore Melia Duncan and senior Ashley Bey. SIUE's top three-point threat, Duncan is second on the squad with a 12.5 ppg. average. She leads the club with 24 three-point field goals while shooting at a 38 percent clip from long range. Bey has the team's top assist total (55), as well as its third-best scoring average (10.4 ppg.). The Chicago native has also racked up a team-high 41 assists through her first 12 games of the season.

As a team, SIUE has struggled on the offensive end of the court, averaging just 58.3 points per outing and shooing only 32.9 percent from the field. The Cougars have been outperformed on the glass by more than seven boards per game, but their defense has forced an average of 22 turnovers per game.

Turning Up the Heat
The Lady Bears posted their best single-game shooting performance (.544) in Saturday's 99-81 win at Oral Roberts since hitting 57.6 percent of their field goal attempts against Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 WNIT (3/24/05). Saturday's point total also represented MSU's top offensive showing since March 8, 2003, when they recorded a 107-53 win over Evansville, and its best offensive effort on the road in nearly 18 years, dating back to a 109-45 win at Western Illinois on Feb. 13, 1992.

So Far, So Good
MSU's 7-3 start is its best since the 2003-04 season, when it won nine of its first 10 games en route to a 28-4 finish and the school's 12th NCAA Tournament appearance. That may be a sign of good things to come since, in each of the Lady Bears' last eight starts that included at least seven wins in their first 10 games, they have gone on to earn a bid to the Big Dance. This season also marks the earliest date the Lady Bears have reached the seven-win plateau since the 1998-99 season. In fact, this season is the first since 2003-04 in which MSU has amassed seven wins before the turn of the calendar year.

Double Your Trouble
With her 32-point effort Saturday at Oral Roberts, Jaleshia Roberson joined fellow sophomore Casey Garrison in the Lady Bears' 30-point club, making the duo the first set of MSU teammates to top the 30-point barrier in the same season in nine years. The last Missouri State teammates to post 30-point performances during the course of the same season were Jackie Stiles and Tara Mitchem, who accomplished the feat during the Lady Bears' Final Four campaign of 2000-01.

Dial It Up
After shooting just under 27 percent from long range through their first three games of the season, the Lady Bears have heated up from three-point land over the last seven games. MSU has shot .420 (50-of-119) from beyond the arc over its last seven outings and its 13 three-pointers Saturday at Oral Roberts represented its best single-game total since Feb. 16, 2008, when it went 13-of-24 in a home win over UNI.

Additionally, the Lady Bears' eight threes vs. Tulsa (Dec. 8) represented a Missouri State high in JQH Arena. The Lady Bears had not hit more than six treys in any of their previous 17 contests in their new home. MSU has connected at least once from long range in 58 straight games and in 264 of its last 266 games dating back to the 2000-01 season.

Hand it Over
Missouri State is leading the Valley pack when it comes to team assists, coming into Tuesday's game with a 16.7 apg. average. The Lady Bears are handing out an average of two assists more per outing than Bradley and Drake, which enter the week tied for second in the league in the same category. Casey Garrison's 6.4 assist per-game average is tops in the circuit, while Jaleshia Roberson ranks seventh among all Valley players with a 3.0 apg. average.

Garrison's 13-assist performance vs. Tulsa not only represented a new career high, but also set a JQH Arena record and helped the Lady Bears post their highest single-game assist total (25) in four seasons. Her total tied four others for the sixth-highest in school history and was the most recorded by a Missouri State player since March 8, 2003, when Kari Koch handed out 13 assists against Evansville.

Stealing the Show
Paced by the performance of sophomore guard Casey Garrison, Missouri State also leads the Missouri Valley Conference in team steals. The Lady Bears are averaging 10.0 steals per outing, while Garrison is one of three Lady Bears to rank among the circuit's top performers in individual steals. The Bolivar, Mo., product is averaging 2.9 takeaways per game to rank third in the league and is on pace to challenge the MSU single-season record for total steals, set in 1993-94 by Tina Robbins (108). Jasmine Malone and Jaleshia Roberson also rank among the league's top 12 in steals, coming into the week tied for the No. 11 spot at 1.5 spg.

As a team, Missouri State is ahead of its 2008-09 pace for team steals after leading the Valley with a 9.4 spg. average a year ago. 

In Rare Company
Twice this season sophomore guard Casey Garrison has achieved feats only one previous player in Missouri State history had accomplished prior to the 2009-10 campaign. With her 35-point, 17-rebound performance at Arkansas State (Nov. 27), the sophomore guard joined Cindy Henderson (37 points/24 rebounds on Jan. 20, 1975) as the only other Lady Bear on record to score at least 35 points and record at least 15 rebounds in a single game. It was Garrison's second career double-double consisting of 30 points or more, making her only the fourth MSU player on record (along with Henderson, Jeanette Tendai and Jenni Lingor) to record more than one such game in her career.

Garrison quite possibly topped that effort on Dec. 8 vs. Tulsa when she became the second Lady Bear to record a triple-double with an 11-point, 11-rebound, 13-assist performance against the Golden Hurricane. MSU assistant coach Carly (Deer) Stubblefield was the only other Lady Bear to accomplish the feat (Jan. 23, 1998).

Lady Bears Land Hardware
On the heels of her career-high 32-point performance against Oral Roberts, Jaleshia Roberson became the latest Lady Bear to earn a weekly honor from the Missouri Valley Conference Monday with her selection as MVC Player of the Week.

The Kansas City native connected on 11-of-18 (.611) three-point attempts and 18-of-31 (.581) tries from the field overall in the two victories. Against Oral Roberts on Saturday, Roberson poured home a career-high 32 points to lead MSU to its best shooting performance in five seasons in a 99-81 win. The Hickman Mills High product went 12-of-19 from the floor, and her eight three-pointers tied three others for the third-best single-game total in MSU history. Saturday's effort followed a 15-point performance against Murray State on Wednesday that included three clutch baskets down the stretch to help MSU pull out a 76-70 victory. Roberson's three-pointer with just over eight minutes to play sparked a 9-0 run and gave the Lady Bears the lead for good, and her final trey of the evening with 3:34 to go put the final nail in the Racers' coffin, pushing the MSU advantage to nine points.

The award for Roberson continued a recent stream of MVC honors for the Lady Bears, as MSU has now earned at least one of the two weekly awards from the Valley in four straight weeks. Sophomore guard Casey Garrison earned MVC Player of the Week recognition on Dec. 14, following her triple-double against Tulsa. Freshman Whitney Edie earned MVC Newcomer of the Week that same day after posting a career-high 20 points in the win over the Golden Hurricane. Freshman forward Christiana Shorter earned newcomer of the week laurels on Dec. 7, after picking up all-tournament recognition at the Commerce Bank Wildcat Classic in Manhattan, Kan. The honor for Shorter came just one week after Garrison was named the league's player of the week for the period Nov. 23-29, on the strength of a banner week that included new career highs for points, rebounds, assists and steals. Garrison's week included one of the most impressive all-around performances in Missouri State history with a 35-point, 17-rebound effort to propel the Lady Bears to a 73-65 win over Arkansas State (Nov. 27) in Jonesboro.  