Missouri Women Earn First Conference Victory
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
January 9, 1999
COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri Tigers (8-5, 1-2) used six straight free throws in the last 28 seconds of the second half to help clinch a 68-63 win over the Texas A&M Aggies (6-7, 1-2) at the Hearnes Center in Columbia on Saturday night. The Tigers out-rebounded the Aggies 39-30 while holding Texas A&M to just .368 percent shooting.
Texas A&M controlled most of the first half. The Aggies ran out to a 17-7 lead early before the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to four points. The Aggies upped their lead back to nine points before another 8-0 run by the Tigers made it a 22-21 game.
With the Tigers trailing 27-23, all of the momentum changed hands with one shot. With 2.6 seconds to go in the first half, Amy Monsees heaved a pass three-quarters of the court to Julie Helm who caught the ball from about 25 feet out. Helm turned and launched a shot at the buzzer and swished it to bring Missouri within one point, 27-26 at the half.
The Tigers and Aggies exchanged the lead for the first five minutes of the second half. With Texas A&M leading 38-34, the Tigers' Monsees (17 points, 4 assists) buried two straight three-pointers from the top of the key to give Missouri a 40-38 lead. After the Aggies answered with a bucket, Missouri went on a 7-0 run highlighted by a conventional three-point play by Helm (14 points) on a feed from Ekpe Akpaffiong to give the Tigers a 47-41 lead.
The Aggies continued to fight back. Prissy Sharpe (24 points) hit one of her four three-pointers with 6:42 to go to tie the game 51-51. That would be as close as the Aggies would get. The Tigers allowed Texas A&M one shot and out for the majority of the second half thanks in part to senior Kesha Bonds who pulled down 18 rebounds for the Tigers. Bonds, now with 874 career rebounds, passed MU Hall-of-Famer Joni Davis for second place on the Missouri all-time rebounding chart.
Missouri used six straight free-throws, four by Monsees and two by freshman Natalie Bright, in the last 28 seconds to seal the victory.
