February 17, 2010
SETTING THE SCENE
The University of Missouri-St. Louis women’s basketball team closes out the 2009-10 regular season at home this weekend, hosting Missouri S&T Thursday before entertaining Maryville Saturday. The Tritons are looking to snap a four-game losing skid and improve upon their 10-15 record. UMSL is also 6-10 in the GLVC and sit in third place - one game out of second place Missouri S&T.
SENIOR SALUTE
Saturday’s game will mark the final home contest for five seniors - Montrice Coggins, Alisa Ndorongo, Lindsey Ransome, Lacey Shalenko and Kristi White. They will be honored in between the women’s and men’s game.
A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
After starting the season 1-7, UMSL is 9-8 in its last 17 contests. With a current record of 10-15, the Tritons have already surpassed the win total of the past two seasons (seven). UMSL is also on the verge of its first GLVC Tournament berth since 2005-06. A win Thursday would clinch a spot for the Tritons. The top three teams from each of the three divisional standings, along with three wild card teams qualify for the 12-team GLVC Tournament, on the basis of the highest percentage of conference games won in competition with other member institutions during the regular season.
SCOUTING MISSOURI S&T
Missouri S&T fell to 13-12 on the season, including 9-7 in the GLVC, with an 87-71 setback to Drury Monday night. Andrea Downs leads the Lady Miners with 11.1 points per game, while Julie Meyer follows with 10.0 points per game.
THE LADY MINERS HEAD COACH
Alan Eads is in his eighth season as the head coach of the Lady Miners basketball program.
He came to Missouri S&T after serving as an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University for eight seasons.
THE SERIES
UMSL and Missouri S&T meet for the 47th time with the Lady Miners owning a 30-16 record in the series. Since joining the GLVC three years ago, Missouri-S&T has won seven of eight meetings. However, the Tritons took the first meeting this year - an 83-75 decision in Rolla, Mo. - to snap a nine-game losing skid to the Lady Miners.
EARLIER THIS YEAR
UMSL 83, Missouri S&T 75 (Jan 4, 2010 - Rolla, Mo.)
UMSL shot 64 percent from the field in the second half and overcame a 13-point deficit en route to the win. After the Lady Miners took a 61-48 lead with nine minutes and 32 seconds to play, the Tritons staged a 29-14 run and took a 77-75 lead it would not relinquish on a jumper by junior Kelly Carter with just under four minutes on the clock. UMSL, which scored the final 11 points of the game, connected on all six field goals in the final 4:19 and went 8-of-8 at the charity stripe in the final 3:21. Missouri S&T scored its final points with 1:50 to play. Sophomore Caitlyn Moody scored a career-high 27 points for the Tritons in the victory.
MOODY VS. THE LADY MINERS
Sophomore Caitlyn Moody is averaging 21 points per game in three career contests against Missouri S&T. Her career-high of 27 points at Missouri S&T earlier this year bettered her previous high of 24 points also against Missouri S&T, set as a freshman.
SCOUTING MARYVILLE
Maryville enters its final game of the season Saturday with a 5-20 record, including a 3-14 GLVC mark. Abby Duethman averages team-bests of 11.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
THE SAINTS HEAD COACH
Chris Ellis is in his ninth year at Maryville, where he has produced a 160-81 record. Ellis led the Saints to six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances under his reign and directed the program to an NCAA Division III record for consecutive conference (St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) wins at 92.
THE SERIES
UMSL is 3-1 all-time against Maryville with its first loss in the series coming earlier this year in an 81-72 loss.
EARLIER THIS YEAR
Maryville 81, UMSL 72 (Jan. 2, 2010 - St. Louis, Mo.)
UMSL fought back from a 17-point second half deficit, but couldn’t pull out the victory. Clinging to a 40-34 halftime lead, Maryville opened the second half with a 16-5 run, taking its largest lead of the game at 56-39 with 15:02 to play. From there, the Tritons went to work, using a 27-13 run over the next 11 minutes 14 seconds to pull within three at 69-66 on three-pointer in the deep right corner by sophomore Caitlyn Moody off a pass from fellow sophomore Hailee Deckard in the post with 3:48 to play. Deckard scored 13 points during that run, including a stretch of 10 straight points. However, Maryville’s Abby Duethman’s back-to-back three-point plays helped push the Saints lead back to 75-69 with just over two minutes to play and UMSL would get no closer. Deckard finished with a game-high 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half
HEAD COACH LISA CURLISS-TAYLOR
Lisa Curliss-Taylor is in her third season as the head coach of the UMSL women’s basketball team where she owns a record of 24-56.
AN UMSL WIN OVER MISSOURI S&T WOULD...
... send the Tritons to their first GLVC Tournament since 2005-06.
... snap a four-game losing streak.
... improve the Tritons to 9-4 at home this season.
LAST TIME OUT
UMSL closed out its regular season road schedule with losses at Rockhurst and Drury last weekend. The Tritons shot just 29.2 percent at Rockhurst in the 69-48 loss on Thursday, while Drury held on for a 94-82 win on Saturday. Senior Kristi White averaged 15.5 points in the two contests.
THREE’S THE WAY
In three years under the direction of Lisa Curliss-Taylor, the Tritons have been known for their three-point shooting. In her first season (2007-08), UMSL recorded 202 three-pointers, second most in a single season, and last year tallied 179, the fourth most in a single season. The Tritons have connected on 167 treys this year (currently the sixth best single season total), compared to their opponents’ 141.
THE WHITE STUFF
Senior Kristi White is the program’s all-time career three-point shooting leader (.408) and also ranks fifth in career three-pointers made (129) and is sixth all-time in career assists (289).
HOLDING THE THREE RANSOME
Senior Lindsey Ransome is also one of the program’s top three-point shooters. Ransome has drained 114 career three-pointers - the 10th best career figure in program history - and her career three-point shooting percentage of 34.0 ranks her ninth all-time in program history. Additionally, she has attempted 335 treys, the seventh most in program history.
KELLY MITCHELL CAN SHOOT THE THREE TOO!
Junior Kelly Mitchell is shooting at a 36.2 clip during her career from the three-point line, a figure that ranks as the fifth best career average.
CARTER CAN
Junior Kelly Carter is second on the team in three-point shooting, connecting on 47.6 percent of her attempts. She is also among the team leaders in three-point makes, draining 30 - one better than the 29 she connected as a freshman and sophomore combined.
DECK THE FREE-THROW LINE
Sophomore Hailee Deckard has gone to the free-throw line 134 times this season - that’s more than twice of any other Tritons player. She has connected on 91 attempts for a 67.9 percentage. Her 91 free throws made are the third most by a sophomore in program history. She needs nine to move into second place and eight to take over the top spot - currently owned by current graduate assistant coach Courtney Watts (‘05-’06).
STREAKS THAT SHINE
UMSL has had two three-game win streaks this season - the longest for the program since the 205-06 season, when the Tritons had win streaks of four and five games.
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