Feb. 6, 2010

COMING UP - The Saint Louis Billikens (7-15, 1-6 A-10) begin the second half of the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule Sunday, Feb. 7, at Dayton (17-5, 5-2 A-10). Tip time at UD Arena is 1 p.m. (CT).

FOLLOWING THE ACTION - All home games are audio streamed live and free of charge on radio station KSLU's Web site, kslu.slu.edu, and live stats are available free of charge on GameTracker at www.slubillikens.com. GameTracker also is available for the SLU-Dayton contest. All Billiken home games are video streamed live on the Internet via Billiken All-Access at www.slubillikens.com. Subscriptions are available for $79.95 annually or $9.95 a month.

TICKET INFORMATION - Tickets for all women's basketball home games can be purchased at the Chaifetz Arena ticket office, by phone at (314) 977-4SLU or online at www.slubillikens.com.

KEMEZYS SELECTED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT - Senior center Amanda Kemezys was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 7 women's basketball second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Kemezys' selection to the Academic All-District team is her first and the fifth for the SLU women's basketball program, four of which have occurred during head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller's tenure. She is an education major with a concentration in middle-school mathematics.

LAST TIME OUT - Four players scored in double figures for the Billikens in a 61-54 loss to Duquesne Feb. 2 at Chaifetz Arena. Lauren Woods led the way with 13 points, while Amanda Kemezys, Katie Paganelli and Kathryn Hester tallied 12 points apiece. Saint Louis out-rebounded Duquesne 46-39 including 20 offensive boards, the most by the Bills in a conference game this season. Kemezys grabbed 11 caroms to complete her sixth double-double of the year, while Paganelli collected a career-high nine rebounds and tied her career best with five offensive boards. Woods also gathered nine rebounds.

ABOUT THE BILLIKENS - Lauren Woods leads Saint Louis in scoring (13.5 ppg), followed by Amanda Kemezys (13.0 ppg) and Katie Paganelli (11.1 ppg). Kemezys tops the SLU charts in rebounding (9.3 rpg), offensive rebounding (3.1 orpg) and blocks (15). Paganelli leads the team in free-throw percentage (.872) and 3-pointers (39), while Jacy Bradley has 23 treys. Janisha Gearlds leads the Billikens with 65 assists and 31 steals, while Bradley has 55 assists and 29 steals. Kathryn Hester owns a team-high .525 shooting mark from the field.

SCOUTING DAYTON - The Flyers have all five starters and three additional letterwinners back from last year's 21-14 squad that finished eighth (7-7) in the A-10, reached the A-10 Championship semifinals and advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Sophomore forward Justine Raterman, the 2008-09 A-10 Rookie of the Year, leads a balanced scoring attack with 12.1 points per game and adds 6.2 rebounds per game. She shoots 52.6 percent from the field. Senior guard/forward Kendel Ross contributes 9.9 ppg and 6.3 rpg, while junior guard Kristin Daugherty, a third-team All-Conference pick last year, chips in 9.5 ppg. Seven other Flyers average between 5.0 and 5.9 points. Sophomore center Casey Nance, who joined Raterman on last year's A-10 All-Rookie team, tops the league in blocks (47) and leads Dayton in rebounding (6.4 rpg). Sophomore guard Patrice Lalor leads the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8:1) and ranks second in assists (4.0 apg). The Flyers are second in the conference in scoring offense (71.2 ppg), rebounding margin (+7.0) and offensive rebounding (15.2 orpg) and allow 58.4 points per game. Head coach Jim Jabir is 107-100 in seven seasons at Dayton, 327-323 in 23 seasons overall.

THE DAYTON SERIES - The Flyers lead the series 16-6, including a 6-0 mark when the teams have squared off as Atlantic 10 Conference foes. Last season, Dayton captured a 73-68 regular-season victory in St. Louis and a 74-52 win in Charlotte, N.C., in the first round of the A-10 Championship.

BILLIKENS IN THE A-10 STATISTICAL RANKINGS (ALL GAMES) - The Billikens are second in the Atlantic 10 Conference in free-throw attempts per game (19.8) and also rank in the upper half of the league in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (fourth, .305), free-throw percentage (fifth, .706), scoring offense (tied for sixth, 62.0 ppg), fewest turnovers per game (sixth, 17.6), offensive rebounding (sixth, 13.3 orpg) and steals (seventh, 8.0 spg). Individually, Amanda Kemezys is third in the league in rebounding (9.3 rpg), tied for fourth in offensive rebounding (3.1 orpg) and ninth in scoring (13.0 ppg) and field-goal percentage (.487). Lauren Woods is sixth in scoring (13.5 ppg), and Katie Paganelli is tied for seventh in 3-point field goals per game (1.8).

BILLIKENS IN THE A-10 STATISTICAL RANKINGS (CONFERENCE GAMES) - In conference games only, the Billikens rank second in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.268), third in turnover margin (+2.6) and free-throw percentage (.761), fourth in steals (8.6 spg) and seventh in fewest turnovers per game (16.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.8:1). Individually, Amanda Kemezys is tied for fourth in offensive rebounding (3.0 rpg) and tied for seventh in rebounding (8.0 rpg), while Lauren Woods is tied for fifth in assists (3.7 apg), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7:1), 13th in free-throw percentage (.750) and tied for 14th in scoring (12.3 ppg). Katie Paganelli ranks seventh in 3-point field goals per game (2.1), and Kathryn Hester is 12th in field-goal percentage (.475).

BILLS IN THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS - Through games of Jan. 31, Amanda Kemezys ranks 46th nationally in rebounding.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - Katie Paganelli became the 14th Saint Louis women's basketball player to score 1,000 points when she buried a 3-pointer against Evansville Dec. 6. Paganelli has 1,149 career points, good for 13th place in SLU annals. In the Oakland game Dec. 17, Amanda Kemezys became the 15th Billiken to achieve the milestone with a basket late in the first half. Kemezys is now 14th on the Saint Louis career list with 1,141 points.

KEMEZYS ASSAULTS RECORD BOOK - On the Saint Louis career lists, Amanda Kemezys is fourth in rebounds (751), fifth in blocks (76) and eighth in free throws made (259). Kemezys needs 70 points to claim a top-10 spot in that category. She also is in position to finish among the top 10 in rebounding average (current career average 7.6), field-goal percentage (currently .498) and free-throw percentage (currently .738). In addition, Kemezys is on pace to break SLU's single-season record for rebounds. She has 205 caroms, and the school mark is 267 set by Jamie Cavaness in the 1995-96 campaign.

PAGANELLI MOVING UP - Katie Paganelli is tied for third on SLU's career 3-point field goals list with 151 and needs 14 treys to take over second place. Paganelli could land on several other Billiken career top-10 lists. She needs one steal, 23 assists and 62 points to secure top-10 spots. With a career .779 free-throw mark, she has a chance to finish among the top five in SLU history.

HESTER HITTING THE MARK - Kathryn Hester has been the Billikens' most consistent shooter recently. In the last four contests, Hester connected on 53.8 percent (21-of-39) of her field-goal attempts and averaged 11 points.

NECK AND NECK - In addition to being just eight points apart in career scoring, Katie Paganelli and Amanda Kemezys are battling for supremacy in another category. Each player has 60 career double-figure scoring performances.

BILLS SIZZLING AT THE LINE - Saint Louis has shot at least 70 percent from the free-throw line in 10 of its last 13 games. The Billikens are 179-of-239 (.749) during that stretch.

DEFENDING THE ARC - The Billiken defense has stymied opponents from beyond the arc in recent games. Saint Louis has allowed three or fewer treys in seven of the last nine games and nine of the last 13 contests. Billiken opponents are a combined 29-of-115 (.252) in the last nine outings.

HEATING UP AT THE STRIPE - Lauren Woods has become one of the Billikens' most reliable foul shooters. Woods is 80-of-105 (.762) from the stripe in the last 15 outings. She had a career-high 13 free-throw attempts against Tennessee Tech, followed with 12 against Bradley and tallied 10 against Massachusetts. Now with 237 career free throws, Woods needs 18 to crack SLU's top-10 list.

A LOOK AHEAD - The Billikens return to Chaifetz Arena to host La Salle Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in the "Billiken Blue Out" game. Fans are encouraged to participate by wearing blue. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free Billiken Blue Out T-shirt.

Saint Louis Billikens Women's Basketball