Preseason Fact Sheet No. 4

TELEVISION: None
RADIO: Lady Razorback Radio Network (CST); 6:40 p.m. pregame; 7:00 tipoffKBNV (90.1 FM), Fayetteville-Springdale (LIVE)KHOZ (900 AM), Harrison (LIVE)
INTERNET: LADYBACKS.COM; free audio, subscriber live video stream

ABOUT THE GAME: Final preseason game for the Lady Razorbacks brings a familiar foe to Walton Arena. Athletes in Action makes its ninth appearance in Fayetteville. Arkansas leads the series 5-3, including the last meeting back in 2002. Susie Gardner makes a slight change in the starting five from Everyone’s Internet, and continues to prepare the team for next weekend’s home opener games with Alabama State and Centenary.
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.
ON TOUR WITH AIA: The Crusaders went on a five-game win streak to begin the 2004 tour before losing three of their last four. AIA takes the same path to Fayetteville as Everyone’s Internet, playing at Stephen F. Austin. Jessie Stomski is the leading scorer this tour for AIA, putting in 18 at Texas A&M on Monday then another 18 at SFA on Tuesday. Wednesday was an off day for travel.
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."
LAST GAME FOR AIA: The Crusaders roared out to early leads in the first and second halves at Stephen F. Austin, but turnovers and defense brought the Ladyjacks back for a last-second game-winning shot from Alex Bowman for a 73-72 win for SFA.
POWER INSIDE: Jessie Stomski has been near double-double almost the entire tour for Athletes in Action. She’s averaged 17.8 ppg and 9 rpg the past four games and has not been held to single digits for the tour. The last three games, Jenny Crouse has joined her inside to average 15 ppg in the paint.
PRESSURE COULD BE KEY: AIA had control in their last game until Stephen F. Austin clamped down on defense to force 29 turnovers from the Crusaders. SFA used those mistakes in the first half to fuel a 13-1 run to eliminate an early 12-point lead by AIA. The Crusaders have coughed up the ball over 20 times in their last four games including another 29 at TAMU and 22 with a -7 turnover margin at Michigan.
MAYBE THEY SHOULD BE THE SNOWBIRDS: There is a distinct geography to this year’s AIA team with two players each from Wisconsin, Maine and North Dakota.
BACK TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: For those curious, only Jessie Stomski played in the 1999 WNIT championship game, scoring 12 points on 5-7 from the field as the Badgers’ starting center. Katie Voigt graduated the previous year.
VOIGT LIKES WALTON ARENA: The last time AIA visited, Katie Voigt ripped into Arkansas for a near exhibition record 29 points and 13 rebounds. The former Badger hit 9-of-18 from the field and 9-of-13 from the line. Voigt’s already had one hot game this year, tearing up North Dakota for 30 points in 32 minutes off 12-17 from the field.
BACK FROM 2002: Along with Katie Voigt, AJ Whitehead made the visit the last time Athletes in Action toured through Walton Arena.
OTHER FAMILIAR FACES: Jenerrie Everette played against Arkansas four years at Kentucky, but did not participate in last year’s game here at Walton Arena.
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.
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 AWEIGH: 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.
LAST YEAR WITH AIA: Arkansas 86, Athletes in Action 76What started out as a laugher became a thriller at the end as Arkansas allowed AIA to come back from a 44-22 halftime deficit. Katie Voigt led AIA’s rally with 29 points and 13 rebounds as the former Wisconsin center dominated the lane in the second half as AIA outscored the Lady’Backs, 54-42, in final frame. Arkansas’ inside game was not strong with a combined 12 points from starter Cara Wright and subs Ruby Vaden and Katrina Nesby. The Lady’Backs were 5-of-12 at the five spot. Meanwhile, guard play carried the day as Lakishia Harper came off the bench for a perfect performance — 5-of-5 from the field, 4-of-4 at the line — for 14 points and six assists. India Lewis led Arkansas with 21 points, 6-of-10 from three-point range, followed by 18 from Shameka Christon.
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.
TICKETS ARE ON SALE: Season tickets for the 2004-05 season are on sale. Prices are $90 for reserved, $80 for student/senior citizen reserved and are available by calling 877-LADYBACK or 57-LBACK, or for new season ticket sales available on-line at LADYBACKS.COM. All season ticket renewals must be processed by the Lady’Back Ticket Office, but the season ticket form for renewals can be downloaded from the website.
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.

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