University of Missouri
Kansas State
23rd-Ranked Wildcats Cruise to 87-44 Win Over Missouri
1/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2005
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kendra Wecker posted game highs of 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Laurie Koehn hit five 3-pointers to lead No. 23 Kansas State to a 87-44 win over Missouri in Big 12 Conference action Tuesday night at Bramlage Coliseum. The 43-point margin is Missouri's largest in nine years of Big 12 play, topping an 84-47 loss at Nebraska in 1997.
Missouri (7-7, 1-2 Big 12) was led in scoring by junior LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS), who had 14 points and three assists. Sophomore Tiffany Brooks (Leavenworth, Kan. / Leavenworth HS / Kansas State), playing her first game against the Wildcats since transferring from KSU last winter, added 13 points.
"We started off sluggish, and they were a handful tonight," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "I thought we played harder in the second half, but we just have too many injuries to people who can't go full strength right now, and that's just not enough to play against a quality opponent like this team."
After the two teams traded baskets to start the game, KSU (11-3, 2-1) went on a 9-0 run capped by a pair of Claire Coggins buckets and a Megan Mahoney 3-point play. Brooks hit a turnaround jumper on the right sideline to pull Mizzou within seven (11-4) with 15:53 left.
K-State went on an 8-2 run after that basket, capped by a Wecker layup off a no-look pass from Twiggy McIntyre. Brooks drew a charge, though, and then drove the left side the next time down to make it 19-8 with 12:09 remaining in the first half.
Yet the Wildcats answered with another run, this time a 9-0 spurt that was stopped only when Bond drained a 3-pointer with 7:11 left for Mizzou's first field goal in nearly five minutes. Coming out of the eight-minute timeout, though, Kansas State pushed the margin to 24 (35-11) following another 7-0 run.
Sophomore Blair Hardiek (Effingham, Ill / Effingham HS) drove for a layup coming out of the four-minute timeout, and a steal and an acrobatic layup gave the Tigers back-to-back baskets for the first time in the game and also pulled them within 20, before Kansas State scored the final four points of the half and took a 39-15 lead into the locker room. The Tigers were limited to just six field goals on 26 attempts (23.1 percent), and just 1-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.
Sophomore Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) started the Tigers off well with her first 3-pointer of the game, yet a Bond free-throw was all Mizzou could muster in a 2-minute stretch that saw Wecker hit three buckets, and Koehn another off a steal.
The KSU lead grew to 52-19 with 16:19 left, and twice reached as large as 37 before Mizzou scored three of the next four baskets. Yet the Wildcats reeled off another run, pushing the margin to 40, the range it remained for the rest of the game.
The Tigers conclude their two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon at Iowa State in a game that will be televised by FSN. [NOTE: FSN Midwest will delay broadcast of the game until 5 p.m. on Saturday. Mizzou returns home next Tuesday, Jan. 18, for a 7 p.m. game against Colorado. For ticket information, visit the Mizzou Arena box office, or call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri).
