Nov. 22, 1999

Box Score

COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri Tigers (1-1) suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (2-0) by a score of 83-76 at the Hearnes Center Monday night. Both the Tigers and Lady Razorbacks fought through a physical game where a total of 50 fouls were called between the two teams.

Missouri broke out to a 5-0 lead thanks to it's aggressive defense. The Tigers forced Arkansas into seven turnovers in the first six minutes of the game, holding the Lady Razorbacks to just one shot from the field during that span. A layup by Amy Wright (9 points) with 13:54 left in the first half accounted for Arkansas' second shot from the field and it's first made field goal attempt. That shot got the Razorbacks going offensively as the fouls began to mount on Missouri. Marlena Williams and Amanda Lassiter both picked up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game. Neither player saw the floor the rest of the half. The Tigers were whistled for 17 personal fouls in the first half, eight of them were offensive fouls.

Arkansas jumped out to a 36-26 lead with 41 seconds to go in the half, but a three-pointer by Natalie Bright and a steal and layup by Tracy Franklin cut the Arkansas lead to 36-31 at halftime.

The second half turned out to be as physical as the first. The Lady Razorbacks jumped out to a 42-35 lead on a three-pointer by freshman India Lewis (19 points) at the 17:03 mark. Missouri responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 42-42 led by a fresh Marlena Williams. Williams, who scored all 21 of her points in the second half, scored five of the seven points during the Mizzou run. Arkansas battled back with a 7-0 run of it's own thanks to a bucket by Lewis and five points by Wendi Willits.

Arkansas' lead got as high 12 points and 70-58 with 6:13 left on the clock, but the Tigers would not go away. Missouri went on yet another 7-0 run cutting the Lady Razorbacks lead to 70-65. The Tigers cut the lead to three points at 77-74 with 1:25 left when freshman Kerensa Barr stole a pass and hit Julie Helm for a layup.

Down the stretch, the difference in the game was the free throw line. The Lady Razorbacks connected on 4-of-5 free throws in the last minute of the game. Missouri went 19-for-28 from the charity stripe for the game.