University of Missouri
Southwest Missouri State
Women Post Convincing 68-52 Season-Opening Win Over SMS
11/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2002
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Junior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) led all players with 18 points and eight rebounds, and the Tiger defense forced 26 turnovers as the Missouri women's basketball team opened its 29th season with a convincing 68-52 win over Southwest Missouri State at the Hammons Student Center on Saturday. The win was the second straight for Missouri (1-0) over the Lady Bears, but MU's first in Springfield since 1987.
Senior guard Kerensa Barr (West Plains, Mo. / West Plains HS) had 16 points and seven assists, and junior forward Melanie Fisher (St. Louis, Mo. / Principia HS / Southwest Missouri State) added 12 points and six rebounds to join Unrau in double-figure scoring.
Meg Tierney's 12 points and Morgan Hohenberger's 11 led SMS (0-2), which is two seasons removed from its second Final Four appearance.
"This was an exciting moment for our players to knock off SMS", said Head Coach Cindy Stein. "I've said from Day One that Springfield has some of the best fans in the country. It's nice to get things going with a win. We'd rather have this be the last game of the year that we're ending with a win, but we'll take it."
Mizzou took an 8-6 lead on a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Fisher, who was making her first return to the Hammons Student Center since transferring from SMS after her freshman year. Fisher then added a 15-foot jumper just minutes later.
The opening minutes were played at a frenetic pace, as the first media timeout did not come until 7 minutes had elapsed. With the Lady Bears up 12-10 with 12:27 left in the half, the Tigers went on a 14-0 scoring binge to open a comfortable lead. Freshman guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) hit a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up 19-12, then Unrau followed with a post-up jumper and an uncontested 3-pointer from the top of the key to boost the lead to 24-12 with 9:41 remaining in the opening frame.
After forcing a shot-clock violation, Mizzou went on to score the last five points of the half on a jumper by Barr, an Unrau put-back and a free throw from junior guard MyEsha Perkins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley [Texas] CC). Unrau scored 15 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting to give the Tigers a 36-21 lead at the break.
Mizzou's first turnover didn't come until 9 minutes into the game, and committed five in the half, yet the Tiger defense forced 14 SMS turnovers in the same span.
Coming out of the break, the Tigers extended the lead three separate times to 20 points, including a 52-32 margin with 12:02 left on a Fisher jumper. Yet after SMS used a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to key the home crowd and pull within 54-42, Mizzou went on its own run to restore the lead to 20. In that span, the Tigers got 3-pointers from junior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS) and Bond, and another jumper from Fisher.
The Tigers open their home schedule this Tuesday, Nov. 26, with a 7 p.m. tipoff against Bradley. For ticket information, call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in Columbia).
