University of Missouri
Southwest Missouri State
N'Garsanet's Double-Double Not Enough For Tigers
12/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A second double-double in three games from junior C Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) was not enough to counter a game-high 22 points from SMS' Jenny Lingor, as the Lady Bears registered a 66-44 win Wednesday night at the Hammons Student Center. N'Garsanet finished with 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds; she also added a game-high four blocks.
Despite the loss, the Tigers (4-4) could take several positives from the game, as Mizzou held SMS (4-2) to its lowest scoring output of the season, and held the nation's second-most-accurate shooting team to its worst shooting night of the year. Nevertheless, the Lady Bears still out-shot the Tigers by a 43.5-31.7 percent margin.
SMS took an early 7-2 lead on the strength of a 3-pointer from K.C. Cowgill and capitalizing on several Tiger turnovers. Yet the Tigers pulled to within 13-9 on a 3-pointer from freshman G Kassie Drew (Anna, Ill. / Anna-Jonesboro HS) with 12 minutes, 26 seconds left in the first half. Then sophomore F Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) tossed up a sweet reverse, and junior G LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) picked up a loose ball and drove through traffic to tie the game at 13 with 10:41 left.
The Lady Bears took over from that point, though, draining seven shots - including two 3-pointers and two free throws - in an 18-6 run for a 31-19 lead with 3:40 remaining in the half. A Cowgill basket with 2:17 left ended the scoring for both teams as SMS took a 14-point lead (33-19) into the locker room.
Poor field-goal shooting plagued the Tigers in the first half; Missouri made just nine of its 34 shots (26.5 percent) in the opening 20 minutes, including just 1-of-9 from long distance. Meanwhile, SMS hit on 46.7 percent (14-of-30) of its shots, including three 3-pointers. In addition, Mizzou was out-rebounded, 22-21, in the first half.
N'Garsanet got the Tigers off to a good start with two quick baskets to open the second half, yet the Lady Bears countered with four buckets, including a pair of Sarah Klaasen 3-pointers, to boost the advantage to 20 (43-23). Over the next eight minutes, the Tigers could only chip the lead down to 15 (50-35) before the Lady Bears went on a 14-4 run - including 12 from Lingor - to run the lead to 25.
"I've been disappointed in our work ethic in practice. We need to play with high energy, and we're not right now," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "We're going to be OK, but SMS has that right now and they deserved to win the game. I saw some great effort out there. We had shooters out there, but we didn't have the makers."
The Tigers will take the next 10 days off for final exams in preparation for their next game, the "Pack the Zou" showdown with No. 2-ranked Stanford. The athletic department is selling $1 tickets to the game, scheduled next Saturday, Dec. 18, and televised nationwide by FSN, in an effort to sell out Mizzou Arena. For more information, contact the Mizzou Arena Box Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS (573-884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri) or log on to www.mutigers.com.
