Missouri State University

Missouri State Lady Bears (15-4, 6-1 MVC) 

vs. 

Creighton Bluejays (11-7, 5-2 MVC) 

Game Overview

Following a successful three-game home stand, the Missouri State Lady Bears will hit the road this Thursday evening for a 7:05 p.m. match-up against the Creighton Bluejays at D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb. The contest will kick-off a two-game road swing that will also see the Lady Bears take on Drake Saturday afternoon in Des Moines to conclude the first half of the conference season.

Missouri State is coming off a 3-0 home stand at JQH Arena that included key wins over Illinois State, Indiana State and Wichita State. Most-recently, the Lady Bears stopped a four-game skid in their series with Wichita by routing the Shockers, 71-41, last Friday. MVC Player of the Week Christiana Shorter turned in a monster game of 21 points and 14 rebounds, combining with Casey Garrison to score 21 straight points for MSU during a decisive 23-0 scoring spurt.

Creighton comes home to Omaha after playing four of its last six Valley games on the road. The Bluejays earned a split last weekend, defeating Indiana State in Terre Haute on Saturday after dropping a 13-point decision at Illinois State Thursday evening.

CU will look to avenge last year's series sweep in which the Lady Bears cruised to a 15-point win in Omaha, then pulled out a 70-64 win in Springfield.

Quick Hits

► The Lady Bears came in at No. 33 in this week's NCAA RPI ratings, making them the top-rated Valley team in the report; Creighton (75), Illinois State (80) and UNI (82) were also listed among the top 100 teams

► Missouri State has outscored the opposition by an average of 20.4 points while limiting them to .283 shooting over the course of its current eight-game home win streak dating back to Dec. 3

► The Lady Bears are 7-0 this season when winning the turnover battle and 15-0 when holding the opposition below 70 points

► Naismith Trophy candidate Casey Garrison moved past Cindy Henderson into 10th place on the Lady Bears' career scoring chart with her 13-point performance at Bradley (Jan. 8); she needs 16 more points to catch Lisa Davies (1,469) in the No. 9 spot on the list

► Garrison has knocked down 78-of-85 (.918) free throws on the season to lead the MVC and rank  fifth in all of Division I; she hit a school-record 37 straight attempts from Dec. 5 through Jan. 21 and has four different streaks of at least nine straight makes from the foul line this season

► Garrison has averaged 4.3 assists over her last eight outings dating back to Dec. 21

► Missouri State leads the Valley in total rebounding (46.3 rpg), field goal percentage defense (.320), three-point field goal percentage defense (.261), defensive rebounding (31.2 rpg), offensive rebounding (15.1 rpg) and blocked shots (6.8)

► In conference play, MSU is the top scoring (73.0 ppg) club in the league; the Lady Bears also pace the circuit in free throw percentage (.816) and rebounding margin (+7.7) in MVC play

► The Lady Bear defense is among the nation's leaders in field goal percentage defense (3rd), blocks per game (5th) and three-point field goal percentage defense (14th)

► Missouri State has kept eight opponents under .300 from the field this season; prior to the start of this year, the Lady Bears had held just four of their previous 93 foes below the 30 percent mark during Milleson's tenure

► Tia Mays leads the MVC in blocked shots (3.8 bpg), moving up to third on the MSU single-season top 10 blocks list with three rejections Jan. 6 at UNI; she needs just three more blocks to equal Sharon Zeilmann's school record of 75, set in both the 1984-85 and 1986-87 seasons

► Jasmine Malone has converted 43-of-46 (.935) free throw attempts in her last 23 MVC games over the last two seasons

► Jaleshia Roberson moved into sole possession of fifth place on MSU's all-time three-point field goals list with four treys vs. Illinois State on Jan. 11; she needs 67 threes to catch Jackie Stiles (221) in the No. 4 spot and 117 to reach Kari Koch's school record of 271 career triples

► Roberson also climbed in the school's career top 30 scoring list last week, passing Mary Phyl Dwight and Tonya Baucom to move up to 29th with 841 points

► Christiana Shorter earned her first career MVC Player of the Week honor on Monday, adding to an already-impressive haul of four Valley Newcomer of the Week awards in 2009-10; Shorter leads the MVC in rebounding, field goal percentage and offensive rebounding and ranks among the Valley's top 10 in a total of five individual statistical categories

Scouting the Lady Bears

With 10 letterwinners and four starters back from last year's 22-11 team that finished tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference to secure the program's first postseason bid in four years, the Lady Bears enter the 2010-11 season as the MVC's preseason favorite. Leading the way for Nyla Milleson's fourth MSU team will be returning All-MVC performers Casey Garrison and Jaleshia Roberson, who were named to the league's preseason all-conference team. The junior duo formed arguably the deadliest one-two punch in the MVC-particularly during conference play-in 2009-10. In MSU's 18 Valley games, they combined for 36.1 points per outing, with Garrison's 20.4 ppg, average pacing all scorers by more than three points per game. They entered the 2010-11 season as two of the conference's top three returning scorers. The reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, Garrison spearheaded MSU's potent offense last year, finishing as the MVC's top scorer and steals leader. She became the first Lady Bear since Kari Koch in 2004 to receive all-region recognition from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association when she was named a Region 6 finalist for the organization's State Farm All-America Team.

Through the first 19 games of this season, Garrison is once again among the league leaders in a number of statistical categories, including free throw percentage (1st), scoring (2nd), assist-turnover ratio (3rd), three-point field goal percentage (3rd), assists (4th) and steals (9th).

Garrison has received help in the back court from fellow junior Jasmine Malone, who ranks third on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg). Roberson (7.7 ppg) has come on strong as of late with five double-digit scoring efforts in MSU's seven MVC games. The junior guard ranks second in the Valley with an average of 2.7 treys per game in conference play. Freshman Karly Buer, who enters Thursday's game fifth on the team with a 5.5 point per game average, has also been a key cog in the Lady Bear attack. A Concordia, Kan., native, Buer was second on the team in assists (36) after registering three straight games of at least 10 points and four assists (Nov. 20-30).

Also returning is the Valley's 2010 Freshman of the Year, Christiana Shorter. A Tulsa, Okla., native, Shorter finished her rookie campaign on a high note, registering five double-doubles in MSU's  final six contests. Shorter enters Thursday's game leading the Valley in field goal percentage (.532) and rebounding (8.3 rpg), while her 12.4 ppg average is second on the squad and tied for 11th in the conference. Sophomore Tia Mays (4.7 ppg/7.3 rpg) has also played a critical role for MSU, leading the Lady Bears' defensive resurgence with an MVC-high average of 3.8 blocks per game.

Lady Bear Notables

► With its victory over Wichita State last Friday, Missouri State has its best overall (15-4) and Valley (6-1) start under Nyla Milleson and its top mark through 19 games since the 2003-04 season

► Casey Garrison was named MVC Player of the Week for the third time this year and the seventh time of her career Jan. 17, while Tia Mays earned her first MVC Newcomer of the Week honor

► The Lady Bears' 83 points vs. Lamar represented their highest opening-day offensive output since beating LSU, 85-75 to open the 2000-01 campaign

► After going winless on the road in November for over 26 years, Missouri State has claimed victory in two of its last three true road games over the last two seasons, but is still just 13-21 in the first month of the season since 2002-03

► The Lady Bears' win over SIU (Dec. 31) gave them a school-record seven wins in the month of December; MSU's 7-1 mark in December represents its best in any month since going 8-1 in January of 2005; the Lady Bears have won 16 of their last 18 December games over the last three years

► The Lady Bears set or matched five JQH Arena records Dec. 9 vs. SIU Edwardsville, including fewest points allowed (39), fewest points in a half (17), fewest field goals allowed (13), lowest field goal percentage allowed (.210) and widest margin of victory (+29)

► SIU Edwardsville's 39 points marked the lowest point total for a Lady Bear opponent since Jan. 1, 2004, when MSU held SLU to 33 points; it took the Lady Bears less than two weeks to hold another opponent to the same total, limiting Morgan State to 39 points on Dec. 21

► The Lady Bear defense limited Morgan State (Dec. 21) to just 14-of-72 (.194) shooting, marking the second-lowest single-game field goal percentage on record for a Missouri State opponent; that performance followed a similar effort vs. SIU Edwardsville (.210) on Dec. 9 which matched MSU's Jan. 22, 2004 performance vs. Texas-Pan American for the third-lowest single-game percentage

► Missouri State became the 30th Division I program to reach the 700-win mark with its Dec. 3 win over Eastern Michigan

► Mays's nine blocked shots against Arkansas State (Dec. 5) broke the Missouri State single-game record established by Sharon Zeilmann on two separate occasions; her effort also matched the all-time MVC mark held by UNI's Cassie Hager

► MSU was one of 17 Division I women's basketball programs to post a turnaround of at least +10 games or more last season coming into the week; the Lady Bears' 12-game improvement was tied for the seventh-best in the nation

► MSU was 14th nationally in team scoring, 17th in FT percentage, 22nd in 3-FG percentage, 29th in steals, 37th in FG percentage and 47th in assists per game last year

► Missouri State's 591 free throws made in 2009-10 was more than four Valley teams attempted on the season and represented the fifth-highest team total in MVC history

► Garrison ranked 13th nationally in scoring and was the only NCAA Division I player in the country to rank among the top 35 in individual points, assists and steals per game last year

► MVC Freshman of the Year Christiana Shorter's string of four consecutive double-doubles (March 4-19) was the first such streak for a Lady Bear since Tiff Terwelp strung together four straight doubles from Feb. 24 through March 8, 2008

► Jaleshia Roberson's 91 three-point field goals last season was the second-highest total all-time at MSU and tied for third all-time in the Valley in a single season; Roberson moved past Jenni Lingor (2005) and Kari Koch (2006) by going 5-of-9 vs. Wichita State (March 12), and fell just 14 triples shy of Melody Howard's MSU record, set in 1994

Scouting the Bluejays

Creighton was tabbed third in this year's MVC preseason poll after returning three starters and six letterwinners from last year's 21-11 squad that finished second in both the regular-season standings and postseason tournament. Ninth-year head coach Jim Flanery has utilized a blend of experience and youth to lead his club to a 5-2 Valley start. The senior trio of Kelsey Woodard (12.5 ppg), Sam Schuett (10.8 ppg/7.6 rpg) and Kellie Nelson (8.1 ppg) has started all 18 games for the Bluejays thus far, while freshmen Carli TritzSarah Nelson (6.9 ppg/4.2 rpg) have combined to capture six MVC Newcomer of the Week awards. As CU's leading scorer, Woodard rates third in the Valley in minutes played (33.3) per game, while her 1.9 three-pointers per contest is the seventh-best mark in the conference. Schuett enters the week tied for fifth in the MVC in rebounding, while her scoring average ranks 17th overall. The first-team All-MVC pick from last year is also second on the squad in both steals (1.3) and assists (2.8) per game. Kellie Nelson has the most blocks (19) and the highest field goal percentage (.484) on the team, while her younger sister, Sarah, isn't far behind with 13 blocks and a .473 shooting percentage. Finally, Tritz has made an immediate impact in her debut season, leading the club with 51 steals and 51 assists coming into the game. (10.4 ppg/2.8 apg) and

CU brings the third-rated scoring defense (60.7 ppg), as well as the second-highest assist-per-game average (14.3), assist-turnover ratio (1.0) and turnover margin (+2.2) in the conference into Thursday's match-up. Despite shooting just .314 from beyond the arc so far in 2010-11, the Bluejays are knocking down an average of 6.6.4 three-pointers per ball game to rank third in the circuit.

The Coaches

Nyla Milleson (Kansas State, '85) is in her fourth season as the head coach at Missouri State with a 58-54 mark as the Lady Bears' mentor and an overall record of 243-90 in 11 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 three of those years. Milleson was honored as Heartland Conference Coach of the Year three times, as Drury won six conference titles in all. Milleson is 3-4 all-time vs. the Bluejays, including a 1-2 mark against CU on its home floor.

Jim Flanery (Creighton, '87) is 163-110 in his ninth season as head coach of the Bluejays. The Guthrie Center, Iowa, native guided Creighton to consecutive 24-9 seasons in his first two years at the helm. His 2002-03 team shared the MVC regular-season title, and the 2003-04 Bluejay squad captured the WNIT championship. Prior to accepting the head coaching job at Creighton, Flanery served as an assistant coach under Connie Yori for 10 seasons at CU, helping the Bluejays compile a 170-115 record over that span. In 18 games against Missouri State, Flanery's teams have gone 7-11, with four of those wins coming in Omaha.

Series History

Missouri State holds a 28-15 advantage in the series with the Bluejays, but is just 8-11 vs. Creighton in Omaha. The two clubs have split their last 10 meetings right down the middle with MSU claiming four out of their five victories over the same stretch in Springfield.  

Last season, however, the Lady Bears claimed an 82-67 victory over the Bluejays in the their first-ever trip to D.J. Sokol Arena on Jan. 9. Prior to that, MSU had dropped three straight in Omaha. The Lady Bears also posted a 70-64 win over CU in the return trip to Springfield (Feb. 5) to earn their first season sweep in the series since 2005.

Homeland Defense

Missouri State's current eight-game home win streak has been fueled by a relentless defense that has held the opposition to an average of just 50.4 points per game. The Lady Bears have limited their eight opponents to a combined .283 (143-of-505) field goal percentage and outrebounded them by a 391 to 320 margin over the stretch, an average of nearly 9.0 boards per outing.

Led by Tia Mays's 3.8 blocks per game, the Lady Bears also rank fifth nationally with a team average of 6.8 rejections per outing. Mays has totaled 51 of her 72 blocks on the season in MSU's 12 home games.

Strength In Numbers                                 

The Lady Bears came in at No. 33 in this week's NCAA RPI ratings report, just three spots below their Dec. 6 season-high position of 30th. MSU continues to be the top-rated Valley team in the report, but three other league schools also rated among the  top teams in the country. Creighton (75), Illinois State (80) and UNI (82) were also listed among the top 100 squads in the report.

Missouri State is also drawing recognition in several mid-major polls, including the CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top 25 (Jan. 25), which ranked the Lady Bears No. 8, making them the highest rated Valley squad in the poll, seven spots ahead of Creighton and 15 slots ahead of league-leading UNI.

The Lady Bears' non-conference opponents have posted a solid .607 winning percentage as a group, and four of the 12 schools currently lead their respective conferences.

Another Double-Double for Double-Three

Missouri State's No. 33 Christiana Shorter racked up the 13th double-double of her Lady Bear career with a 21-point, 14-rebound effort vs. Wichita Friday. That performance moved the Tulsa native into a tie for fifth place on the MSU all-time double-double list, matching Sharon Zeilmann's career total. She trails only Kelly Mago (17), Tiff Terwelp (21), Roshonda Reed (24) and Jeanette Tendai (35) on the list.

Climbing the Charts

Junior guard Casey Garrison took her place on a pair of Missouri State career top 10 lists the week of Jan. 3-9. The Bolivar, Mo., product eclipsed Cindy Henderson's career scoring total with her 13-point effort at Bradley (Jan. 8) to move into the top 10 for career scoring, just two days after cracking the school's top 10 steals list.

Already No. 2 all-time at MSU in career scoring average (17.7 ppg), Garrison needs 16 points to move up to ninth on the scoring list (Lisa Davies with 1,469 points), but an astounding 1,940 points to catch all-time NCAA scoring leader Jackie Stiles in the top spot on the chart with 3,393 career points. Garrison has a much shorter distance to climb to reach the top of the steals list, needing just 155 more to equal Kari Koch's school-record career total of 340.

With 26 more assists and 130 additional rebounds, Garrison would break into the career top 10 charts in those categories as well, making her just the second Lady Bear ever to post top 10 career totals in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Jenni Lingor is currently the only player in the 42-year history of the varsity program at MSU to accomplish the feat, ranking fourth in points, sixth in assists, seventh in rebounds and eighth in steals entering Thursday's contest. With 17 points vs. Illinois State (Jan. 11), Garrison joined Lingor as the only Lady Bears to total 1,400 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Casey Garrison's quest for the top spot on Missouri State's all-time chart for consecutive free throws made was fulfilled in the Lady Bears Jan. 16 victory over Indiana State. She went 6-of-6 from the stripe to stretch her string of consecutive makes to 33, surpassing Lisa Davies's 13-year-old school record. Garrison then sank her first four shots vs. Wichita State (Jan. 21) before misfiring on two straight attempts, marking her first misses at the stripe since Dec. 5. Garrison's streak of 37 straight free throws ranks fifth on the Valley's all-time list.

The Defense Never Rests

Missouri State's defense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season, entering the week with the third-best field goal percentage defense in the country. The Lady Bears held four straight opponents under .300 from the field from Dec. 3 through Dec. 12, a first in the 42-year history of the program. MSU has posted two of the best defensive efforts in school history, including a .194 effort at Morgan State that ranked as the second-lowest field goal percentage ever for a Lady Bear opponent. The Lady Bears lead The Valley in field goal percentage defense, three-point field goal percentage defense and blocked shots, ranking fifth in the nation in the latter category.

All-American Rejects

Through the first 19 games of her Missouri State career, sophomore transfer Tia Mays has already made an imprint in the Lady Bear record book. The 6-1 forward, who ranks sixth nationally in blocks per game, has posted eight of the top 15 single-game block totals in school history and already ranks fifth on the Lady Bear career blocks list. Mays rejected nine shots in MSU's 58-47 win over Arkansas State (Dec. 5), breaking the school record and matching the all-time Missouri Valley Conference mark for blocks in a single game, held by UNI's Cassie Hager. She eclipsed the MSU single-game record held by Sharon Zeilmann for nearly a quarter of a century. Zeilmann swatted away eight shots on two separate occasions during the 1986-87 season.

Mays has followed up that effort with five games of at least six blocks to climb all the way to No. 3 on the MSU single-season top 10 blocks list. The Des Moines native became the fastest Missouri State player to reach 50 career blocks and needs just 10 more to equal Zeilmann's Lady Bear single-season record. Her current average of 3.8 bpg would rank third all-time on the Valley's single-season list. If she concludes the season atop the MVC's leader board, Mays would become just the third Lady Bear to lead the conference in blocks, joining Zeilmann (1985 and 1987) and Breton Wyett (2007) in that exclusive club. Mays has also been dominant on the glass for MSU, recording 16 straight games of five boards or more.

Opening Statement

With 15 wins it its first 19 games, Missouri State is off to its best start under fourth-year head coach Nyla Milleson. The Lady Bears' current 15-4 mark is two wins better than their record at the same point last year and represents their best start to a season since 2003-04, when they began the season with victories in 20 of their first 21 games en route to a 28-4 campaign. Missouri State has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the five seasons it has started with at least eight wins in its first 10 games since moving to Division I status in 1982.

Easy As 1-2-3

As a team, the Lady Bears lead the MVC in field goal percentage defense (.320), three-point field goal percentage defense (.261), blocked shots (6.8 bpg), total rebounding (46.3 rpg), offensive rebounding (15.2 rpg) and defensive rebounding (31.2 rpg), and rank first, second or third in 11 different team statistical categories.

Bench Marks

After being outscored in each of the first three games of the season, Missouri State's bench has outscored the last 16 Lady Bear opponents by a combined 100 points (291 to 191). MSU reserves enjoyed a strong all-around performance in the Lady Bears' win over LA Tech (Nov. 27), out-scoring the Lady Techster reserves, 23-7 while also outrebounding them 22-7. MSU's contest against ORU (Nov. 30) produced even greater returns, as MSU finished with a 32-5 advantage in bench scoring vs. the Golden Eagles. For the season, the Lady Bears' bench is averaging 18.1 points per game.

Missouri State All-Time

Missouri State is in its 42nd season of women's collegiate basketball and has an all-time record of 711-490 (.592). MSU began formal competition in 1969 and, with its 22-11 mark last year, secured its 27th winning season. The Lady Bears have made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by Final Four trips in 1992 and 2001 to go along with a Sweet 16 appearance in 1993.

The Lady Bears are in their 29th NCAA Division I season and 19th 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 when the Gateway merged with The Valley.

MSU Peaks in The Valley

The Lady Bears are 228-99 all-time in MVC play with a 135-30 home record against league foes. Missouri State has won at least a share of 11 regular-season titles and nine conference tournaments since the 1989-90 season. MSU has played in 10 of the 18 Valley tournament championship games and 12 of the 25 title games since the inception of the Gateway Tournament in 1983.

Lady Bears on the Air

For the 26th consecutive year, Lady Bear basketball will be broadcast by Meyer Communications, which operates Springfield radio station KTXR (101.3 FM). All games will air live on either KTXR or "The Jock" 98.7 FM, and can also be heard over the internet at RadioSpringfield.com.

Rob Evans is back for his fourth season calling the action for Missouri State, and former Lady Bear Dr. Lynne Miller will provide color commentary. Evans will also host "The Nyla Milleson Radio Show" which will originate from one of the two Springfield Houlihan's locations and air primarily on  "The Jock" 98.7 FM (KWTO) once a week during the regular season.

Over the next four years, 17 Missouri State University basketball games will be carried annually by KY3, Inc., the parent company of local broadcast stations KYTV and Ozarks CW (KCZ), as part of the two-tier television rights package negotiated Nelligan Sports Marketing (NSM).

The agreement includes eight women's games per season. Each contest will be carried live over the air, on cable, and on satellite carriers Dish Network and Direct TV within the KY3 and Ozarks CW footprints, which cover 31 counties in two states. Network affiliates already secured include Metro Sports in Kansas City and Charter Communications in St. Louis.

Additionally, at least two regular-season Lady Bear games this season will be broadcast live locally on Fox Sports Midwest as part of the MVC Television Network.

Bears Live

Throughout the 2010-11 season, Lady Bear basketball will be shown on Missouri State's on-line video channel, Bears Live -- MSU's premium broadband video destination for exclusive live and on-demand streaming video and audio content. All home games will be streamed with the exception of regionally- and nationally-televised games. Fans wanting to watch Bears and Lady Bears basketball through the Bears Live feature can subscribe at www.missouristatebears.com.

Links to live game stats (when available) and KTXR's free, online broadcast of every Missouri State women's basketball game can be found on the Lady Bears' Gameday Guide, located on the MSU Athletics Web site.