Nov. 28, 2003

Final Stats

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Dominating play from the Mizzou defense has put the Tigers into the championship game of the Oneida Bingo & Casino Holiday Tournament following a 78-43 win over Austin Peay Friday at the Resch Center.

Mizzou, which has its first 3-0 start since 2001, finished the game with a tournament-record nine blocked shots after swatting seven away in the first half. Seven different Tigers recorded a block, with sophomore guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) and senior forward Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northland HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) each blocking a pair. In addition, the Tigers took advantage of 21 APSU turnovers, as Mizzou posted a 27-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

Bond had a game-high 16 points and five steals, with senior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) adding 15 points, four rebounds and three assists and James chipping in 10 points, four rebounds and three steals.

"There were some really good things that we did today. It's the first time that I can remember that our bench was so involved," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "They were really into it the whole game, and they really set the pace. We were able to do a lot of different things offensively, and that was a big difference. We're a good passing team; sometimes we make too many passes, but we had really good movement today."

The Tigers took a quick 10-4 lead on the strength of a pair of baskets from Unrau and another four points from Bond. Austin Peay pulled to within 13-10 on a 3-pointer by Alicia Watson, yet the Tigers reeled off nine straight points for a 22-10 lead with 10 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the first half.

APSU got no closer than 10 points the rest of the half, and that came with 8:38 left at 22-12. After another short Mizzou run, the Lady Govs pulled to within 13 with 2:00 left on a Carden Cobb bucket, yet the Tigers ran the break effectively down the stretch, throwing another 9-0 run - including an athletic Bond jumper as the buzzer sounded - to go into the locker room with a 41-19 halftime lead.

Senior forward Melanie Fisher (St. Louis, Mo. / Principia HS / Southwest Missouri State) and junior center Megan Roney (Independence, Mo. / Truman HS ) both made important contributions in the first half, combining inside for 4-of-5 shooting, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Tigers had seven blocks at the break, just one off the tournament record for an entire game. More importantly, Mizzou held APSU to just 25 percent shooting (8-for-32) at the half while hitting on 52.9 percent (18-for-34) of its own shots. MU also held a 25-15 rebounding edge, including 17-8 on the defensive end.

The second half was just as dominating, as Mizzou went on a 17-4 run midway through the final 20 minutes to take a 69-33 lead with 6:56 left. Back-to-back jumpers by freshman center EeTisha Riddle (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon HS) were included in that span, as was a 7-for-7 performance from the free-throw line by the Tigers.

The Tigers will play Saturday against UW-Green Bay at 5 p.m.