Jan. 4, 2012
Creighton Game Notes
Drake Game Notes (available by 4 p.m. Friday)
Missouri State Lady Bears (8-4/1-1 MVC) vs.
Creighton Bluejays (6-6/0-1 MVC), 7:05 p.m. Thursday
Drake Bulldogs (7-5/1-0 MVC), 7:05 p.m. Saturday
Location: Springfield, Mo.
Site: JQH Arena (11,000)
Radio: KTXR 101.3 FM
Live Audio: RadioSpringfield.com
Live Video: MissouriStateBears.com
Live Stats: --
The Missouri State Lady Bears (8-4, 1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) play their first home conference game of the season Thursday at 7:05 p.m. when they host Creighton (6-6, 0-1) in a battle of the top two MVC teams in terms of RPI.
Thursday's game should be an historic one for Lady Bear senior Casey Garrison, who enters with 1,999 career points and will become the fifth player in conference history with 2,000 points with her first basket of the night. Garrison reached 1,000 points in her 57th career game, and will play her 111th game Thursday.
Missouri State hosts Drake at 7 p.m. Saturday before hitting the road again for three more games, meaning MSU will play just two home games between Dec. 18 and Jan. 27.
Speaking of milestones, junior Christiana Shorter enters the week with 973 career points, leaving her 27 shy of 1,000 with a chance to break that barrier at home with her current average of 13.3 points per game.
Series History
Missouri State is 29-16 all-time against Creighton, including a 19-3 mark in Springfield and 2-1 mark at JQH Arena. The teams have split the last 10 meetings, with Missouri State winning three of the last four, including two straight at home.
Missouri State 35-33 all-time against Drake with a 23-14 record in Springfield and 2-2 record at JQH Arena. The Lady Bears have won the last four in the series and have scored at least 84 points in each of the last five contests. Prior to MSU's winning streak, Drake won seven in a row from 2007-10.
Scouting Creighton
Creighton is 6-6 overall and 0-1 in league play after losing its MVC opener at home to Drake by a 47-44 score.
The Bluejays have scored two more points than the opposition on the season for an average score of 57.8-57.7 and shoot .385 overall, .322 from three-point land and .714 on free throws.
Sarah Nelson leads in scoring (13.2) and rebounding (7.1) while shooting .563 from the field, and preseason all-MVC pick Carli Tritz is the only other Bluejay averaging double figures at 12.9 points per game.
Scouting Drake
Drake was 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the MVC prior to its Thursday game at Wichita State. The Bulldogs opened league play Dec. 31 with a 47-44 win at Creighton.
Senior Rachael Hackbarth leads with Bulldogs with averages of 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds and Kyndal Clark, a freshman from Webb City, puts in 10.2 points while shooting 50 percent on threes.
As a team, Drake averages 58.2 points, allows 57.6, and shoots 41 percent overall, 36.4 on threes and 66.7 percent from the free throw line.
