University of Missouri
Saint Louis
Tigers Hold Off Billikens
1/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Junior G LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) scored eight of her game-high 17 points in the final six minutes of play, helping to lead the Missouri women to a 67-50 win over Saint Louis in the teams' final non-conference game Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
Junior C Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) and sophomore F Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) each had 16 points for the Tigers (6-5), who have won two games in the last three days. N'Garsanet had a game-high-tying nine rebounds and two steals, while Savant tied her career high in scoring. Sophomore G Tiffany Brooks (Leavenworth, Kan. / Leavenworth HS / Kansas State) added 11 points and three assists for Mizzou.
Neither team could find the basket in the opening six minutes of the game, as the two squads combined to make just three of their first 21 shots (14.7 percent), including a 1-for-12 output from Mizzou (8.3 percent). Yet the Tigers made each of their next two buckets underneath to take a 6-5 lead with 13:27 left in the first half.
After their next three points came from the free-throw line, the Tigers upped the lead to 11-5 - in the midst of a 9-0 run - when Bond led a fastbreak and pushed the ball up to Brooks, who instantly passed the ball in mid-air to senior F Megan Roney (Independence, Mo. / Truman HS) for an easy layup.
Following a Heather King layup, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run with sophomore G Blair Hardiek (Effingham, Ill. / Effingham HS) and Savant each hitting 3-pointers in that span. The Tigers made 7 of their 10 shots during the overall 19-2 run that gave Mizzou a 21-7 lead with 9:16 left.
N'Garsanet had 11 points and seven rebounds at halftime, which saw the Tigers take a 30-18 lead at the break, but SLU (1-12) made a 10-5 run to begin the second half. Mia Johnson had half of those points, which allowed the Billikens to close within seven points (35-28) with 14:53 remaining in the game. Bond shut down the Saint Louis rally with a 3-pointer, though, to restore the lead to double digits.
After another SLU surge, Savant hit her second trey of the game with the shot clock running down to push the lead back to 10 (44-34) with 9:27 left. The Bills got within six points on six different occasions, but were rebuffed each time, including on a Johnson jumper with 4:52 left. But the next time down, Brooks converted a 3-point play to start a 13-2 run to close out the game. The Tigers held SLU scoreless over the final 4:12.
"The most important thing about this game is that we won," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "Coming back from Christmas, our goal was to win the two non-conference games before Big 12 play started, and we've done that. We accomplished a lot of things today ... anytime we can get four players in double-figures, that's good. Against a team that's 1-11, and an in-state rival, you know [the other team] is going to play hard. I'm just glad we came out with a win."
The Tigers continue their three-game homestand this Wednesday, Jan. 5, when they open Big 12 Conference play against Oklahoma State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and tickets are available for purchase at the Mizzou Arena Ticket Office, by phone at 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri) or online at www.MUTigers.com.
