University of Missouri
Texas Tech
Missouri Falls To No. 13 Texas Tech, 82-64
1/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The game was a battle from the tip, Marlena Williams started the match off with a jumper and went on to score the Tiger's first seven points in the game, including her first 3-pointer of the season. Despite her efforts however, Texas Tech took control and established a lead that Missouri would not recover from. Both Williams and starting forward Amanda Lassiter were benched early on in the first period with foul trouble. The Raiders capitalized on the youth of the Tiger team to enter half time with a 14-point lead.
Texas Tech took off early in the second period with a nine-point run to lead 54-34 at the 14:27 mark. Mizzou fought back posting eight points by junior Natalie Bright and six points by Lassiter to help the Tigers edged the score within 10. The rally wasn't enough to bring Missouri on top however, as repeated fouls brought the Raiders to the free throw line. Seven of Texas Tech's last nine points in the game were scored from the charity stripe.
Despite the loss, Missouri had three players score in double figures. Lassiter led the team scoring 21 points to hit her 12th double-digit game of the year. She also led the Tigers with seven rebounds, one block and three steals. Bright scored 13 points and dished out two assists. The guard was 3-for-4 from the field, 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the foul line. Williams posted her ninth double figure game of the season netting 12 points. She also picked off two steals.
"I told our kids, I wasn't sure how to express my feelings, so I told them both sides of what I was feeling," MU Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "There is the side of me that is ticked off because we've lost. We beat ourselves tonight. We had a lot of breakdowns that we've coached and we've taught them, and they just didn't do it tonight. That makes me really frustrated as a coach, but then there is the other side, this is the first time that I've be at Missouri that I've had a team gel like this during this type of adversity. They hung in there together and fought to the end. We had some breakdowns, usually from our young ones. We had a lot of freshmen mistakes tonight, but this was the first time they've been in this type of situation in the Big 12 and we've just got to learn from that. I feel good about it because I know we can beat Texas Tech."
The Tigers return to Big 12 Conference action on Sat., Jan. 6 at 1:00 p.m., when they host No. 18 ranked Texas in the Hearnes Center. Tickets are still available by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS or at the Hearnes Center ticket office.
