Women's Basketball Fact Sheet No. 2

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ARKANSAS LADY RAZORBACKS (1-0, 0-0 SEC)

POSSIBLE STARTERS

F/P 1 Kristin Moore 6-1 JR Chicago, Ill. (John Hope) 7.0 8.0

F 14 Danielle Allen 6-0 SO Harrison, AR (Harrison) 20.0 2.0

G 4 Kristin Peoples 5-7 SO Westerville, OH (Brookhaven) 14.0 3.0 0.0a

G 12 Sheree Thompson 5-10 JR McComb, MS (NW-Shoals) 6.0 4.0 3.0a

G 21 Rochelle Vaughn 5-9 JR Plano, TX (Plano West) 4.0 1.0 4.0a

OFF THE BENCH

P 11 Kristina Andjelkovic 6-2 JR Belgrade, Serbia (Chipola JC) 2.0 2.0

P 55 Ruby Vaden 6-3 JR Osceola, Ark, (High) 5.0 1.0

F 32 Christina Lawrence 6-0 FR Sullivan, MO (High) — —

F 33 Sarah Pfeifer 6-0 SO Ozark, Ark. (High) 4.0 3.0

G 15 Allison Singleton 5-5 SR Fort Smith, AR (Southside) — —

G 22 April Seggebruch 5-10 SR Cissna Park, IL (Wabash Valley) 5.0 5.0

G 25 Brittney Vaughn 5-7 FR Plano, TX (Plano West) 7.0 1.0 4.0a

G 44 Adrienne Bush 5-8 SR Russellville, AR (High/SMS) 0.0 0.0

ELIGIBLE AT MIDTERM

G/F 23 Melissa Hobbs 6-0 JR Woodward, OK (High/Colo.)

HEAD COACH: Susie Gardner (Second year at Arkansas, 17-12; eighth overall, 129-104)

CENTENARY COLLEGE LADIES (1-0, 0-0 Mid-Con)

POSSIBLE STARTERS

F 43 Van’esha Brabson 5-10 JR Corryton, TN (Carter) 17.0 11.0 4.0a

F 44 Jelena Aleksic 6-0 SO Belgrade, Serbia (Universal) 13.0 7.0

C 3 Whitney Rushing 6-2 JR Shreveport, LA (Rhodes) 7.0 9.0

G 10 Holli Wilkins 5-11 SO Evandale, TX (High) 9.0 3.0

G 22 Laura Kizyte 5-9 JR Kaunas, Lithuania (Weatherford Col.) 33.0 13.0 5.0a

OFF THE BENCH

F 32 Ricquel Crockrom 5-11 FR Houston, TX (North Shore) 4.0 4.0

G 11 Brittany Barbee 5-4 FR Hernando, MS (S. Baptist) 7.0 2.0

G 21 Lindsay Way 5-8 JR Mt. Pleasant, PA (Mt. Pl. Area) 4.0 3.0

HEAD COACH: Elizabeth Wamsley (First year at Centenary, 1-0)

ABOUT THE GAME: Both teams had romps in their season openers as Centenary thumped LeTourneau by 30 and Arkansas swatted Alabama State by 25. Each team also got career performances from their leading scorers, but the difference may be defense.

ABOUT THE LADY RAZORBACKS: Susie Gardner begins her second season at Arkansas with one of the most interesting rosters in the past decade. Arkansas returns four starters from a 16-12 team, and picks up two more potential starters that missed virtually all of 2003-04 with injury. At the same time, the Lady’Backs have only three seniors with a combined varsity experience of a season and a half at Arkansas.

ABOUT THE LADIES: Centenary arrives in Fayetteville after opening the season at home in the Gold Dome against LeTourneau on Friday evening. The Ladies went 4-23 last year to finish ninth overall at 2-14 in the Mid-Continent Conference. First-year head coach Elizabeth Wamsley returned only five letterwinners from that squad, and brings a team that is down to only nine players to Bud Walton Arena.

YES, THAT’S RIGHT, JUST LADIES: Remember, the Centenary men’s mascot is the Gentlemen. It only follows, not unlike Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls, that the women’s teams would be the Ladies.

ROUGH START FOR CC: The Ladies face their second Arkansas opponent Sunday, losing an exhibition game to Division II Ouachita Baptist, 71-62, in Shreveport on Nov. 15. Four OBU Tigers were in double digits, but Centenary’s Holli Wilkins led all scorers with 21 points and Whitney Rushing paced all rebounders with 13 for the Ladies. Free throws doomed CC in the exhibition as the teams were comparable everywhere on the box except the line: 14-of-28 (50%) for Centenary versus 23-of-28 (82.1%) for OBU.

IT’S ALL WELL WHEN IT COUNTS: Centenary thrashed LeTourneau, 96-66, in the season opener Friday evening at the Gold Dome in Shreveport. Leading 51-28 at half, Centenary pounded the ball inside for a 32-8 advantage in the paint. Three Ladies were in double figures, led by 33 from Laura Kizyte and 17 from Van’esha Brabson. Jelena Aleksic added 13. Centenary shot a whopping 53.5% from the field with four of the five starters hitting over 50%.

DID YOU KNOW: Centenary’s program was dropped in the mid-1980s, and Arkansas hasn’t played them since the restart. Centenary is also the smallest member of Division I with an enrollment of only 860.

VERSUS THE LADIES: Arkansas won back-to-back games against Centenary in the early 1980s in a home-and-neutral series in the 1981-82 season. The Lady’Backs downed the Ladies 78-55 in the first meeting at Camden then swept the series with a 67-47 result in Fayetteville.

ENJOY THIS ROSTER MATCH-UP: Centenary is one of the few teams the Lady’Backs play this season where they have an across the board height advantage. The Ladies also have only 11 on the roster, with only nine able to play. Four of the five starters went 33 or more minutes against Ouachita Baptist.

ARKANSAS‘ NOT THE ONLY ONE TO SET RECORDS IN OPENER: Junior transfer Laura Kizyte cranked out a Centenary school record 33 points to lead the Ladies to a 96-66 win over LeTourneau.

BUT YOU CAN’T SCORE IF YOU CAN’T GET THE BALL: Just ask returning SWAC player of the year Crystal Kitt of Alabama State. The 6-5 center came into the opener averaging 20 ppg last season, but had only 10 thanks to a mere seven field goal attempts — one of which came from an offensive rebound.

30 POINTS IN A SEASON, 20 POINTS IN A NIGHT: By the end of the first half, sophomore Danielle Allen had more than surpassed her freshman season high of five points with eight against Alabama State. Five minutes into the second half, Allen scored eight of Arkansas‘ opening 10 points, and had tripled her career best. With a total of 20 points off 9-of-11 from the field, Allen scored in one game 2/3rds of what she amassed in 27 games as a freshman.

THE GOOD NEWS FROM THE FIELD: Arkansas shot 41.9% in the season opener against Alabama State, much better than its previous exhibition.

THE BAD NEWS FROM THE FIELD: Take out Danielle Allen’s 9-of-11 and the Lady’Backs were only 17-of-51, 33.3%. Remove second-leading scorer Kristin Peoples’ 5-of-9, it drops to 12-of-42, 28.5%.

BUSH HAS A DOCTOR’S EXCUSE: The only player to play against Alabama State but not score, Adrienne Bush saw the court only two minutes before a collision with the Hornet’s center Crystal Kitt sent the senior guard crashing to the floor. Bush suffered a mild concussion when her head hit the hardwood, and she spent the second half in street clothes as a precaution.

SISTER ACT: The Vaughns, junior Rochelle and freshman Brittany, each had four assists against Alabama State to lead Arkansas. Each had three steals, but younger sister had seven to older’s four.

ALL AROUND GAME FOR SEGGEBRUCH: April Seggebruch came off the bench for five points, but her near-career high five rebounds, career tying four steals and two assists gave the senior guard one of her better all-around performances in 25 minutes against Alabama State. Notable was her three-pointer, Arkansas‘ final trey attempt of the night, which avoided a school-record tying mark for long range futility (Arkansas has been 0-for on threes in three games all-time).

TEAM EFFORT IN OPENER: Arkansas had scoring from 10 of 11 Lady’Backs that played against Alabama State and eight players led or co-led the team in a statistical category.

DIFFERENCE A HALF CAN MAKE: The Lady’Backs shot 21 free throws each half against Alabama State, but Arkansas hit only 38.1% from the line to start, then made 61.9% in the second.

THAT’S A FOUL START: Alabama State came within two of the Walton Arena mark for opponent personal fouls, and saw two starters leave early with five. It led Arkansas to the line for 42 free throws, one shy of the arena record.

WE LIKE INSECT TURNOVERS FOR MORE PROTEIN: The Alabama State Lady Hornets committed 45 turnovers against Arkansas in the season opener for both teams, breaking a 14-year-old Lady Razorback school record. The Murray State Lady Racers set the mark at 43 turnovers in December 1990. It also set a new Bud Walton Arena mark, surpassing the 40 committed by Southeastern Louisiana in 2000.

BUT IT’S WHAT YOU DO WITH THE TURNOVERS THAT COUNTS: Arkansas had a whopping +24 turnover margin against Alabama State, including a +14 first-half spread. But Arkansas led ASU by only four, 34-30, at halftime thanks to an inability to convert 24 Hornet mistakes into points. Arkansas had only 15 points off turnovers in the first half. That changed dramatically in the second as 21 Alabama State errors led to 23 Arkansas points.

NEAR MISS ON STEAL RECORD: The 24 steals against Alabama State by the Lady’Backs came within one of the Bud Walton Arena and two of the overall school record.

TAIL OF TWO BACKBOARDS: Centenary raked in 58 rebounds against LeTourneau for a mind-numbing +30 rebound margin. Arkansas was outboarded by Alabama State, 46-33, in its season opener.

20 IN A ROW IN THE HOME OPENER: Arkansas‘ record-setting defensive effort against Alabama State gave the Lady Razorbacks their 20th straight home opener, and moved the record in the first home game to 28-1 all-time.

TRIPLE IN SIGHT: Rochelle Vaughn got within striking distance of a triple-double in the Athletes in Action game, hitting 10 points with eight rebounds and six assists. She hit the eight rebound mark midway through the second half, making it seem she’d at least come away with the double. For her career, Vaughn has a double-double with points and assists, but has not had the rebound double. She had 11 points with 10 assists in last year’s win over Georgia.

SHOULDER LIMITS PFEIFER’S TIME: Redshirt sophomore Sarah Pfeifer is having trouble with her non-surgery shoulder, and the staff plans to limit her practice contact to enhance her playing time over the next weeks.

A FLASH OF PRESSURE: Arkansas went on a 8-2 run against Everyone’s Internet thanks to four steal and layup plays by guards Sheree Thompson and Adrienne Bush, three of them consecutive. Thompson and Bush each had a pick and finger roll off the EV1 guards that put Arkansas in the lead by nine, 27-18, in the first half.

GOING DEEP: Susie Gardner had only one player touch the 30-minute mark against Everyone’s Internet (Sheree Thompson) and 11 players saw time in the first exhibition game. Nine of the 11 played double-digit minutes, and if Ruby Vaden was further along (training room limited to five or less game minutes) it would be reasonable to think 10 players would have had 10 or more.

REMEMBER, HOBBS ON ICE UNTIL DECEMBER: The Red-White Game was the last time fans will see Melissa Hobbs on the court until the Louisiana-Lafayette game on Dec. 16. The midterm transfer from Colorado is eligible after the end of the fall semester.

A ONE-TWO COMBO AT FOUR: Sarah Pfeifer came off the bench to score 17 points with seven rebounds against Everyone’s Internet as Danielle Allen had eight points and eight rebounds as the starter. The pair of sophomores could become a dynamic duo at the high post this season. In the Red-White Game, scoring was reversed with Allen turning in 23 points and Pfeifer had 12.

IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY: It’s preseason, but Susie Gardner’s already had a post-game gem. Speaking about the change in leading scorers from Red-White to Everyone’s Internet, the Lady’Back coach said she was excited about the team nature of this year’s offense. "It’s like coming to a surprise birthday party and you’re not really sure who will be there."

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Fayetteville, Ark., ranks as the 14th toughest road trip in Division I women’s basketball according to Louisiana Tech’s annual survey of home court winning percentage. Arkansas has a 79.94% winning mark in Fayetteville, and is the third toughest home court in the Southeastern Conference. Ruston, La., is No. 1 at 94.51%, followed by Knoxville, Tenn., at 91.37%. Oxford, Miss., is ranked 11th, and second in the SEC. Notable tough towns behind Fayetteville: Athens, Ga. (22nd), Springfield, Mo. (28th),

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE — STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE TOP 20: Arkansas‘ schedule gets the #19 spot on the preseason RPI strength of schedule issued by Rich Summerville and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. Summerville’s RPI — considered for years one of the most accurate predictors of the NCAA committee’s own rating percentage index — has Arkansas at 19th thanks in part to the Lady’Backs facing the No. 1 RPI Tennessee Lady Vols and the #7 RPI LSU Tigers twice this season. In fact, half of the SEC is in the top 25: 1) UT, 5) Florida, 7) LSU, 9) Auburn, 18) Miss State, 19) Arkansas, 25) Alabama. Rounding out the league: 31) Vanderbilt, 37) Georgia, 39) Ole Miss, 48) South Carolina, 54) Kentucky.

SHAMEKA CHRISTON UPDATE: The 2004 SEC Player of the Year and 2004 WNBA Rookie Team member Shameka Christon has taken her game overseas. After helping the New York Liberty into the WNBA playoffs, Christon has joined the defending Women’s Division I champion of the Israeli pro league, Elizur Ramla. Christon is competing with fellow Liberty teammate Crystal Robinson. Four games into the Israeli league’s season (as of Nov. 15), Christon is the team’s No. 2 scorer with 16.2 ppg, turning in 29 to lead Elizur Ramla to a 44-point rout of Maccabi Ashdod on Nov. 15.

STATISTICAL ANOMALY YOU NEED TO KNOW ON RED-WHITE BOX: No, Danielle Allen did not play 39 minutes, nor Melissa Hobbs 40. The Red-White Game was only 30 minutes total — two 15 minute halves — but to allow the computer program to close out the box score it was necessary to add minutes across the board to create a team total of 200 (a regular 40-minute game times the five players on the court).

PROFOUND DANIELLE ALLEN RED-WHITE NOTE: As a freshman, Danielle Allen scored 30 points in 27 games played. In the Red-White, the 6-0 sophomore had 23 points and 12 rebounds.

TREYS AWAY: Arkansas sent up a combined 33 three-pointers in the Red-White Game, hitting 11 for a solid 33% (Red, 4-of-11; White, 7-of-22). April Seggebruch led the way with 6-of-12.

TRIPLE PLAY TREYS: April Seggebruch gave the White team a nine-point rally toward the close of the first half with three consecutive three-pointers to bring White back from a 12-point early deficit.

PFEIFER, ALLEN LEAD AT THE LINE: After a rough year as a team at the free throw line, one of the encouraging stats after Red-White were the team percentages. Red hit 13-of-16 led by Danielle Allen’s 7-of-9 while White had 6-of-8 — all belonging to Sarah Pfeifer.

VADEN VOTED PRESEASON ALL-SEC: Junior post Ruby Vaden was voted second team all-SEC in the first-ever SEC preseason all-conference team. Voted on by the coaches prior to the start of the annual media day, Vaden was one of 17 players named to the preseason squad.

PRESEASON SEC POLL HAS ARKANSAS TIED FOR NINTH: The Lady Razorbacks were voted ninth in the preseason media poll conducted at the annual SEC Media Days. There were 11 media voters that gave both Arkansas and Alabama 101 points each in the balloting. Tennessee was the near-consensus pick at No. 1 with nine first place votes and 13 overall. LSU had the other two first place votes and 23. Vanderbilt was third, Georgia fourth, Auburn fifth and Florida sixth. Ole Miss and Miss State tied for seventh at 80 each. Kentucky and South Carolina rounded out the poll.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE FOR THE FALL SEMESTER: Practice is set for 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m. for the first weeks of practice, Tuesday is the off day.

SMALLER, FASTER LADY’BACKS: Expect an emphasis on the open court this season from Arkansas, starting with preseason practices. Susie Gardner indicated the team will press more this year, and might start practice sessions working defense first to take advantage of the team’s enhanced conditioning and 14-player roster.

HOME SWEET HOME: After a year that was dominated by the road — one game in Fayetteville for almost the entire fall 2003 portion of the schedule — Arkansas enjoys a home-dominated pre-conference schedule for 2004-05. After preseason games with Everyone’s Internet and Athletes in Action, Arkansas hosts a pair of games at Walton Arena to begin the year. Arkansas opens with Alabama State on Nov. 19, then hosts Centenary on Nov. 21. The Lady’Backs have only two road trips before Christmas — at the Flint Resources Islander Classic in Corpus Christi, Texas, for a Thanksgiving tournament then at Memphis on Dec. 7. That’s nothing like last year’s road warrior slate that racked up six road trips and five-figure frequent flyer miles.

KEEP YOUR CH(K)RISTINA’S STRAIGHT: Joining Arkansas’ Kristins are a pair of Christina’s — two-sport freshman Christina Lawrence and junior college transfer Kristina Andjelkovic. While the first names sound the same, take a little time to work on your Serbian — an-JELL-koh-VITCH.

SEPARATE YOUR VAUGHNS: Sisters Rochelle and Brittney Vaughn suit up for the Lady Razorbacks this season, and while freshman Brittney is wearing her junior sister Rochelle’s rookie season number (25) they are very different personalities on and off the court.

HOW MANY STARTERS? A pretty good argument can be made for five returning starters with redshirt sophomore Sarah Pfeifer back on the hardwood after her season-ending shoulder injury. The 6-0 forward started the first three games of her shortened first sophomore year, and when the partial game with Oregon State is factored out (only two points in 14 minutes) Pfeifer is one of the top returning scorers with 10 ppg.

BRERETON SIGNS WITH LADY’BACKS: Angleton, Texas, guard-forward Ayana Brereton has signed her National Letter of Intent to play women’s basketball at the University of Arkansas. Considered one of the top basketball athletes in the state of Texas, the 5-10 swing forward is ranked 14th among all Texas seniors according TexasHoops.com, she was one of three top 20 players to leave the state of Texas according to the recruiting website. She helped lead Angleton to the regional quarterfinals last season and a 26-5 record for head coach Melissa Hernandez. Her AAU team, the Houston Hotshots, came home this summer with a pair of national trophies, the 2004 BCI national championship and the AAU national championship runners-up. Brereton averaged 15 ppg and 7.8 rpg at forward for the Ladycats as a junior. Her sophomore season she averaged 13.7 ppg, 7 rpg and 2.4 steals as the Ladycats went 30-4 in 2003, captured the district championship and reached the state semifinals She was a double-digit scorer even as a freshman with 10 ppg and 6.3 rpg in 2002 for another state semifinal finish by the Ladycats. The most valuable player for Brazoria County last season, Brereton is a two-time District 24-4A defensive player of the year and three-time all-district. The district’s newcomer of the year her freshman season, she’s also a three-time academic all-district selection. Named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association 2004 all-state team and second-team all-state by the TABC as a junior, she’s a three-time all-region pick by TABC. Great two-sport athlete, Brereton was the Region III 4-A runner-up in both long jump and triple jump last year, and posted junior season bests of 18-7 _ for the long and 40-4 ¬ for the triple jump. At the UIL state meet, she was the state runner-up in the triple jump and third in the long. One of only two athletes to break the 40-foot mark at the state meet in the triple, it looked like Brereton had the state title until she was passed on the second-to-last round. Her triple jump best improved two feet last season, and she heads into the spring as one of the favorites to take the state triple jump title for Class AAAA.

JONES MAKES IT TWO SIGNEES FOR EARLY PERIOD: Blytheville forward Whitney Jones signed with Arkansas on the final day of the early signing period. The 6-0 forward joins 5-10 swing guard Ayana Brereton of Angleton, Texas, in Gardner‘s 2005 recruiting class. Averaging 21 ppg in the first games of her senior season, Jones turned in 17 ppg and 11 rpg as a junior for head coach Melissa Young at Blytheville. Jones comes from an athletic family, and becomes the first daughter of a Lady Razorback to sign at Arkansas in women’s basketball. Her mother, Diann Ousley Jones, was the first track and field national champion for the Lady’Backs, taking the national indoor 600-yard championship in 1979. Her mark of 1:21.22 remains the school record for the retired event. Jones’ oldest sister, Wendlyn, played in the Final Four last season for LSU and is a returning junior starter for the second-ranked Lady Tigers. Sister Audrey currently plays for Xavier of New Orleans. Jones ran track her sophomore season for the Chickasaws, finishing third in the 100 meters at the Eastern Conference meet in 2003.

NEXT LUNCHEON NOV. 22: Susie Gardner hosts the Lady’Back basketball luncheons at the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville (I-540, exit 62). Luncheons are $8.50, and start at 11:30 a.m. The luncheons will be on Mondays during the season this year. Coach Gardner and the staff invites you out to learn more about the team.

IT’S ON LADYBACKS.COM: Video highlights from each pre-game press conference, after each game at Walton Arena and clips from the coaches’ luncheons can be viewed daily at LADYBACKS.COM. The premium video content is free during this first season of the new and improved LADYBACKS.COM for our ALL-ACCESS subscribers. We encourage media to sign up for the ALL-ACCESS package and to utilize the posted clips and quotes.

PHOTO PLATFORM ACCESS VIA LADYBACKS.COM: Media needing high resolution images — action and mug shots — of Lady Razorback athletes can download them via LADYBACKS.COM. Please contact Bill Smith or any member of the Women’s Communication Office for instructions on how to access the high resolution (1.5 – 2.0 mb) versions of all website images.

LADY RAZORBACK TV: The Women’s Athletics Department begins its second season with a department-wide television magazine hosted by the Lady Razorback head coaches. The show airs across the state at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Lady Razorback TV airs in northwest Arkansas on KPBI, Fox 46-15, and in Little Rock on KYPX, the Pax television affiliate. The show re-airs on Sunday mornings in northwest Arkansas on KFDF, UPN, at 11:00 a.m and in central Arkansas on KYPX, the Pax television affiliate, a 11:30 p.m. Lady Razorback TV is brought to you by Adidas, Tyson, CRI and the Lady Razorback Foundation.

TURN YOUR RADIO ON: Welcome back to the Lady Razorback Radio Network for the 16th consecutive season. All Arkansas women’s basketball games are broadcast home and road over the statewide LRRN, as well as on the internet via LADYBACKS.COM. Making his debut this season as the play-by-play voice of the Lady Razorbacks is Preston Lewis. Returning for his 16th year of color for the Lady’Backs is Bill Smith.

KBNV 90.1 FM Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers/Bentonville

KABZ 103.7 FM Little Rock/Central Arkansas

KHOZ 900 AM Harrison

Check your local affiliate for updates on start times or occasional tape delays for local programing.