University of Missouri
Western Illinois
Women Outlast Westerwinds in 2-OT Thriller, 72-69
3/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 19, 2003
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri women's basketball team survived a cold-shooting first half and an endurance test in defeating Western Illinois, 72-69, in double overtime in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament at the Hearnes Center on Wednesday. The Tigers (16-13) advance to the second round at a site to be determined to face the winner of the Ball State/Indiana State game, which will be played Friday night.
The game was the Tigers' third overtime contest in its four WNIT appearances; Mizzou is now 2-1 in those games and 13-17 overall in overtime sessions.
Junior forward Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) led the Tigers with her ninth double-double of the year, a 20-point, 10-rebound effort. She was aided by the first double-double of the season by senior guard Kerensa Barr (West Plains, Mo. / West Plains HS), who became the Tigers' all-time assist leader late in the first half. Barr finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, giving her a Missouri-record 475 assists in her career.
The Tigers took advantage of 34 turnovers by Western Illinois (21-9), the Mid-Continent Conference regular-season champions, allowing Mizzou to post a WNIT single-game-record 22 steals. Unrau led the way with a game-high six picks.
Tiffany Cornelius had a game-high 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Westerwinds. Zane Teilane added 12 points and a WNIT record-tying six blocks.
"The biggest thing in a tournament is getting past the first game, and we finally did that," said Head Coach Cindy Stein, who has led Mizzou to four straight postseason appearances. "This was an exciting game, but not always a fun game. The first half was a great comeback by our team. It showed me a lot of character, which is something I've said all along that we have."
The Missouri women started out cold, missing their first 18 shots before junior guard MyEsha Perkins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley [Texas] JC) stole the ball at halfcourt and went coast-to-coast for a layup with exactly 4 minutes left in the first half. With the help of seven free throws in that span, the Tigers trailed just 20-9 as Western Illinois shot just 37 percent itself to open the game.
With 2:21 remaining, Barr fed junior forward Melanie Fisher (St. Louis, Mo. / Principia HS / Southwest Missouri State) underneath to pull the Tigers within six (20-14). More importantly, it gave Barr the her 471st assist of her career, passing Amy Fordham (1991-94) for the Missouri school record.
Despite its cold shooting, Missouri closed the first half with a 13-0 run to go into the locker room tied at 20. After Teilane opened the second half with a layup, junior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS) canned a 3-pointer to give the Tigers their first lead of the game (23-22) with 18:50 left.
Missouri took as large as an eight-point lead with 7:21 left, yet Rita Castens hit a 3-pointer as time expired to send the game into the first overtime. The Tigers had a five-point lead with 2:44 left, yet Western chipped away until Jessica Cook hit a free throw with 25 seconds left. Barr had a look from 19 feet as the buzzer sounded, but it caromed off to send the game into a second overtime for just the third time in Missouri history.
Western took its only lead of the extra time with 1:09 left on a Cornelius layup, yet Lozier made a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left, and Barr was fouled with 2 seconds left to ice the game.
