University of Missouri
Southwest Missouri State
Barr Powers MU Past SMS
11/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 19, 2001
Final Stats?|? Quotes?|? Notes
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Kerensa Barr's time to shine is crunch time.
Barr, a junior on the University of Missouri's women's basketball team, scored eight of the Tigers' last 10 points to go with two steals and a rebound in the final four minutes of Monday's game between MU and Southwest Missouri State at the Hearnes Center.
Barr, who would finish with career-high numbers in points (24) and rebounds (10), and the Tigers came away with a 61-57 victory over the Lady Bears before 4,139 fans.
After seeing SMS open the second half with a 12-0 run to take a 37-30 lead, Missouri kept chipping away at the Lady Bears. Barr gave the Tigers a 53-52 lead when she sank two free throws with 4:06 remaining. The lead was Missouri's first of the second half since SMS took the lead, 32-30, on a 3-point field goal by Morgan Hohenberger with 18:11 to play.
SMS' Erica Vicente sank a pair of baskets to give it a 56-53 lead. Two Barr free throws cut the Lady Bears' lead to 56-55 before she sank a baseline jumper with 1:25 remaining to give MU a 57-56 edge. She stole a ball on SMS' next possession but the Tigers could not capitalize.
After making a steal of her own, Evan Unrau sank a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining to push the lead to 59-56. After Jennifer Lingor sank one of two foul shots with 12 seconds left, Barr sank two more free throws for the final 61-57 margin.
"When it came to crunch time, Kerensa Barr took the game into her hands - on offense, on defense and at the free-throw line," said SMS head coach Cheryl Burnett. "In the last four possessions of the game, she had a hand in each possession."
Barr, who posted her first career double-double, felt this game between two teams which advanced far in the 2001 NCAA Tournament was going to be a long, drawn-out battle.
"I knew it was going to come down to the wire," said Barr. "I think I just happened to make some plays but we had five people out there playing really well, really competing and wanting to win.
"It came down to us not letting them come to our court and beat us," continued Barr. "It's a good win for us. First, they're in-state (school). We want to win all of those games. I feel we've not been getting the respect we deserve. We have to go out and prove it one game at a time."
And Barr did.
"Those type of players make things happen," said MU head coach Cindy Stein. "You have to have those type of players who can create something, whether it's on the offensive end or the defensive end."
Which Barr did. But she had some help along the way.
Natalie Bright added 17 points while Melanie Fisher had seven rebounds. Unrau added nine rebounds.
Barr and Bright each had 10 first-half points as MU opened a 30-25 lead. Despite shooting 25.8 percent (8-of-31) from the field in the first 20 minutes, Missouri grabbed the lead by shooting 13 free throws and forcing 16 SMS turnovers. The Lady Bears would finish the game with 25.
The Tigers (2-0) play South Carolina Saturday at 11 a.m. (Central) in the first round of the Duke Classic.
