Jan. 8, 2003
WACO, Texas - Baylor rode the inside tandem of Steffanie Blackmon and Sophia Young to a 71-65 win over Missouri in the Big 12 Conference women's basketball opener for both teams Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
Blackmon and Young each scored 22 points to account for nearly two-thirds of the Lady Bears' points. Young also had a team-high 10 rebounds for Baylor (12-1, 1-0 Big 12). Junior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) led Missouri (6-6, 0-1) with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while senior guard Kerensa Barr (West Plains, Mo. / West Plains HS) added 19 on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.
The Tigers set the tempo in the first few minutes, taking a 9-4 lead after Unrau hit a 3-pointer on the left side - her third straight field goal - with 17 minutes, 28 seconds to play in the first. Yet the Bears fought to tie the game at 13-all on a jumper by Steffanie Blackmon with 12:46 remaining.
On two of the next three possessions, the Tiger defense stiffened, with Barr and junior guard MyEsha Perskins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley JC) drawing charges as Mizzou clung to a 15-13 lead. The Lady Bears slowly moved ahead, then threw an 11-0 run on Missouri by holding the Tigers to 0-for-6 shooting from the field for a stretch of 5:18. Mizzou finally got on the board with a Barr basket with 15 seconds left, yet Chelsea Whitaker's runner as the half wound down gave Baylor a 37-25 advantage - equaling its largest of the game - heading into the locker room.
Junior forward Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northfield HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) scored the first points of the second half on a layup, and the Tigers pulled to within nine on a Barr 3-pointer and a layup by junior forward Melanie Fisher (St. Louis, Mo. / Principia HS / Southwest Missouri State). Baylor extended its lead to as much as 14 points before Barr hit her third 3-pointer of the half to bring the Tigers back to within nine.
With the game continuing to see-saw, Barr hit her fourth trey of the half and on the next possession, faked her defender on another 3-point attempt and drove to nail a 12-footer to bring Missouri back to within eight (65-57) with 4:22 left to play.
After junior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS) made a putback of a Fisher miss, the Tigers seemed to have pulled within three on another Barr 3-pointer. Yet the Tigers had called timeout just before Barr released the ball.
Unrau made the first of her one-and-one free throws, yet the Lady Bears made key rebounds - and their free throws - in the final minutes to seal the win.
"I was extremely disappointed in our play tonight, but there were a couple of positives from this game," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "This is one of the toughest places to play in the country, and Baylor is a very good team. If we would have come out and played the second half with the intensity we did in the first, things may have been a little different."
The Tigers return home this Saturday, Jan. 11, for a 1 p.m. game against 20th-ranked Texas at the Hearnes Center. For ticket information, call the Hearnes Center Box Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS (573-884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri).