SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Twenty-five years ago this fall, Jackie Stiles left Claflin, Kansas, (pop: 700-ish) for what was then-Southwest Missouri State — the school she chose over Connecticut and Tennessee, among other elite programs around the nation.
"It was a miracle that she came" to what is now known as Missouri State, then-coach Cheryl Burnett said on Wednesday.
The miracle wasn't merely that she could have gone anywhere but chose to come here. Or that she became the NCAA's career scoring leader (21 years ago on Tuesday, as a matter of fact) and led the school to the 2001 Final Four in St. Louis amid a run that was something akin to Beatlemania.
