University of Missouri
Northwestern
Tigers Drop Heartbreaker to Northwestern, 74-70
12/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2011
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Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri Tigers lost to the Northwestern Wildcats 74-70 on Saturday (Dec. 3) in Mizzou Arena. The Tigers' loss moves Missouri's record to 5-1 on the young season. The game was part of the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge, which consists of eleven games between Big Ten and Big 12 teams. Despite the loss, the Tigers received strong performances from seniors BreAnna Brock and Christine Flores, who scored 23 and 20 points respectively. Junior guard Liene Priede also had a strong performance with 17 points, one point short of her career high.
The Tigers' first bucket came from a three-pointer from Christine Flores, who leads the team in scoring. The next two scores for Mizzou came courtesy of BreAnna Brock, who then made a terrific hustle play defensively knocking Northwestern's long pass out of bounds. Missouri relied heavily on Brock and Flores early in the first half, as the two senior leaders combined to score 10 of the Tigers' first 12 points of the contest.
After two consecutive Northwestern three-point shots put the Wildcats up 14-11, Brock responded by beating the Wildcats defense for an easy layup. Down 16-14, Flores hit her second three-pointer of the game to give the Tigers a 20-16 lead. Priede's jump shot then went through, giving the Tigers a 22-16 lead. Sydney Crafton's layup off of a steal capped off a 10-0 run for the Tigers, and gave Mizzou a 24-16 lead.
After Northwestern was able to stop the run, it was Flores, again, who answered the call with a made jump shot, putting Mizzou up 26-18. Priede later went two-for-two from the line to expand the Tigers' lead to four points. Mizzou then capitalized on aggressive defense, forcing their 10th turnover of the game before Priede nailed a three-point shot from the top of the arch, once again expanding the Missouri lead to seven points at the 2:52 mark.
But the Wildcats wouldn't go away easily, and went on a 6-0 run to bring the game back to just a single point difference, favoring the Tigers. After a missed jump shot by Northwestern on their final possession of the half, Mizzou took over with a chance to get the final shot. The possession ended with Flores missing a jump shot off of an inbounds play, and the Tigers brought a 31-30 advantage into the locker room for halftime.
After the half, the Tigers continued to rely on Brock for scoring, as she reached double digits on a layup that gave Mizzou a 33-32 lead. After Northwetsern responded with a three-pointer, senior Bailey Gee responded by making one of two free throws to cut the deficit to just one. Gee would score again with the Tigers trailing 39-36, hitting a jump shot to reduce the Wildcats' lead to one. Now down 39-38, Priede made two straight three-point shots for Mizzou, the second giving the Tigers a 44-41 lead. A Flores layup increased the lead to five points.
The Tigers and Wildcats traded points heading to the under-12 timeout, when Kyley Simmons spotted a wide open Flores streaking down the paint for an easy layup. The Tigers' aggressive offense led to scoring chances down the stretch, as Flores was fouled at the 9:02 mark to put Mizzou in double bonus. She made both free throws to give the Tigers a 57-49 lead, their largest of the game. Again, Northwestern fought back and cut the Mizzou lead down to just three.
The Tigers showcased their resiliency, as Flores made yet another layup to give Mizzou a 59-54 lead. Now under four minutes, with the Tigers up by four, Flores found Brock wide open under the hoop for an easy lay-in. Again, Northwestern fought back with seven unanswered points. The Tigers went cold after the final media timeout under the four minute mark, and could not stop the Wildcats from getting to the foul line.
Attendance for today's game was an impressive 1,587, creating a tough environment for the visiting Wildcats. The Tigers' next game will be on December 7 at 7 p.m. against Eastern Illinois. Tickets for the game will be one dollar for anyone with a US military ID in honor of Military Day. Keep checking in to MUTigers.com for all the latest updates on Mizzou Women's Basketball. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter (@MissouriWBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/MissouriWBB).
