University of Missouri
New Mexico
Turnovers Plague Missouri in 67-48 Loss at New Mexico
11/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2004
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Katie Montgomery scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and New Mexico forced 13 of Missouri's 19 turnovers as the Lobos posted a 67-48 win over the Tigers on Friday in the first round of the Airport University Inn Thanksgiving Tournament. With the loss, Missouri will play Providence, a 85-38 loser to Gonzaga, for third place Saturday night at 7 p.m. CST at The Pit.
Junior C Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) led the Tigers in scoring with 12 points, while sophomore F Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) shattered her career high with 13 rebounds. Savant entered the night never pulling down more than six boards in a game; she also added eight points for the Tigers (1-2).
Both teams held firm defensively; the game's first points weren't scored until junior G LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) hit a pair of free throws three minutes, 48 seconds into the game. Sophomore F EeTisha Riddle (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon HS) followed with a layup, and the Tigers had an early 4-0 lead. In fact, several transition baskets over the next three minutes gave Mizzou a 10-4 lead with 13:23 left. Yet UNM (3-0) forced several turnovers of its own off of its full-court press to post a 12-0 run over the next 2:10 for a 16-10 lead.
A 3-pointer from Savant, a Bond 3-point play, and a pair of buckets from N'Garsanet helped the Tigers force a tie at 20-all with 8:21 left in the half. New Mexico held Missouri without a field goal, though, for the next 6:34 as the Lobos boosted their lead to 27-21 on their way to a 32-26 lead at the break.
N'Garsanet hit a jumper to start the second half, then a 9-0 Lobo run pushed the lead to 41-28. After a brief Tiger surge, though, New Mexico rolled off 14 straight points over the next 5:11 to build a 58-33 lead and put the game out of reach. Turnovers were again the Tigers' undoing, as was UNM's relatively hot shooting (41.9 percent to 33.3 percent).
"We got our tails kicked tonight," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "New Mexico is a very good team, and when you play a team like that, you have to out-hustle them. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and we didn't have five people that wanted the ball. It was one of those games where we talked about toughness and poise, but we took a little bit of a hit. We didn't get it consistently from everybody."
In the evening's first game, Gonzaga (2-0) had four players score in double figures, and 12 overall, and Providence (0-3) was plagued by 24 turnovers and 30-percent shooting.
