T-Spoon, Mulkey and Barmore: Louisiana Tech reunion when No. 8 Baylor hosts the Lady Techsters

Baylor Lady Bears (6-1) vs. Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (3-1)
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009
Ferrell Center, Waco, Texas
Tip-Off: 5:05 p.m
Television: FOX Sports Southwest (FSSW), ESPN360.com
Radio (pregame show starts at 4:30): KLRK 92.9 FM (Waco), ESPN 97.7 FM (Ruston, La.), KBYO 92.7 FM (Farmerville, La.)
Audio stream/Live Stats: BaylorBears.com, LaTechsports.com

Kim Mulkey

Leon Barmore

Teresa Weatherspoon

WACO, Texas — Three legends of women’s basketball fill the coaching ranks of Saturday’s matchup between visiting Louisiana Tech and Baylor. While Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey and assistant Leon Barmore are already members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Lady Techster coach Teresa Weatherspoon is set to become a member next summer as part of the Class of 2010.

Mulkey is a former Lady Techster player and assistant. She won two national championships as a player (1981, AIAW; 1984, NCAA) and one as an assistant (1988). Barmore coached at Louisiana Tech for 20 seasons. Current head coach Teresa Weatherspoon, a former WNBA star, played for both Barmore and Mulkey at the Ruston, Louisiana school.

Just five years after arriving at Baylor in 2005, Mulkey led the Lady Bears toa championship in 2005 making her the only basketball coach to win a national championship as a head coach, assistant coach and player. Before the beginning of the last season, she convinced a retired Leon Barmore to come back to the game and the duo began another journey together on the sidelines. Previously, Barmore had never worked for another school, having spent his entire career at Louisiana Tech as a player, assistant coach and head coach. Louisiana Tech won a national championship in 1988 under his tutelage. He is also a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Teresa Weatherspoon, a former flashy point guard for the WNBA New York Liberty, is known for many accomplishments on the professional level including the most famous shot in the league’s history. In 1999, during game two of the WNBA Finals against the Houston Comets, she made an unbelievable winning shot from half-court right at the buzzer, stunning the crowd and television viewers.

While at Louisiana Tech she was a two-time Kodak All-American (1987, 1988), won the Wade Trophy as the top player in the country during her senior season and was a key member of the1988 championship team.

Saturday’s game marks the first time Mulkey faces Lousiana Tech as the coach of Baylor. Overall, Tech leads the series 4-1.

Eighth-ranked Baylor (6-1) will play its fifth consecutive home game. Three Lady Bears are averaging double-digit scoring. Freshman center Brittney Griner leads the team with 15.1 points a game while junior guard Melissa Jones tallies 14.1 and senior Morghan Medlock is averaging 12.3 points.

The Lady Techsters are 3-1 entering the game after a 77-74 loss to No. 7 Louisiana State Tuesday night. Junior guard Whitney Jones returns to Waco to face her former team. She signed with Baylor out of West Monroe High School in 2006 and played for Mulkey for eight games during the 2006-07 season before transferring to Louisiana Tech. Jones averaged 1.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game for the Bears during her short Baylor career.

Since the program’s inception in 1974, Louisiana Tech has never had a losing season. The Lady Techsters have posted 35 consecutive winning seasons, including last year’s 21-13 mark.

Series Results

• 1976-77 Baylor 84-78 in Monroe, La.
• 1977-78 LA Tech 91-78 in Nacogdoches, Texas
• 1979-80 LA Tech 100-66 in Dallas, Texas
• 1981-82 LA Tech 104-61 in Ruston, La.
• 1993-94 LA Tech 78-68 in Shreveport, La.

Projected starters for Louisiana Tech

• G Jasmine Bendolph
• G Brietta Thomas
• G Whitney Jones
• F Adrienne Johnson
• F Shanavia Dowdell

Projected starters for Baylor

• G Kelli Griffin
• G Shanay Washington
• G Melissa Jones
• F Morghan Medlock
• C Brittney Griner

Related

• LaTech vs. LSU: Louisiana’s remaining unbeaten teams go head-to-head tonight
• Baylor’s Brittney Griner Named Big 12 Freshman of the Week, Oklahoma State’s Andrea Riley is Player of the Week
• Video: Brittney Griner Dunks in Lady Bears’ Victory

Around the Web

• Saturday contest reunites hall of famers (Baylor Lariat)
• Rise to greatness earns Lady Bears’ Mulkey Texas Sports Hall of Fame nod (Waco Tribune)
• T-spoon takes on mentors at Baylor (ESPN)