Feb. 14, 2004
STILLWATER, Okla. - Senior All-America candidate Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) led four Mizzou women in double-figure scoring as the Tigers beat Oklahoma State, 71-46, Saturday night in Stillwater.
Unrau led all players with 18 points and 13 rebounds for her Big 12-leading 10th double-double of the season, and fifth in conference play. Senior guard MyEsha Perkins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley [Texas] JC) chipped in with 14 points, Senior forward Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northland HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) added 11 points and eight rebounds, and senior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS) contributed 10 points and six assists.
"This is a very tough place to play, and I'm really excited for our kids," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "We came out with a lot of enthusiasm, and I was pleased with that. We got really complacent with that 20-point lead, and it's sometimes hard to teach them how to play with one. We kind of had to refocus and get things together."
Both teams played relatively equally through the first media timeout, resulting in a 4-4 tie with 15 minutes, 57 seconds to play in the first half. James put an end to that, though, knocking down her first career 3-pointer and then getting a layup on the ensuing possession to give Mizzou a 9-4 lead. Unrau then canned a trey of her own before James hit the first of two free throws to cap an 11-0 run over a span of 4:08.
Perkins stopped a quick Cowgirl spurt by making a steal, then driving coast-to-coast through traffic for a layup and a 15-8 lead. Moments later, Unrau made a pair of solid defensive plays on back-to-back OSU possessions by picking a Cowgirl guard and starting a fastbreak bucket; she then drew a charging foul next time down.
Mizzou held the Cowgirls to just one field goal for a span of over 11 minutes, yet OSU sank buckets on back-to-back possessions in the last 1:01. Unrau sliced through the lane for a layup with 19 seconds left, though, to give the Tigers a 32-20 lead at the break. OSU committed 14 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, while Mizzou shot 46.4 percent from the field (13-of-28).
Missouri kept the defensive clamps on to start the second half, limiting Oklahoma State to just one field-goal for the first 8:33 of the final period. In that span, the Tigers opened the frame on a 14-3 run to post a 46-23 lead with 12:19 left to play.
OSU countered with a 14-5 run over the next 5:08, yet the Tigers came back with three fastbreak buckets over the next 53 seconds to push the lead back to 20 (57-37).
The Tigers return home this Tuesday vs. current No. 7-ranked Texas Tech for a 7 p.m. tipoff. For ticket information, call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (573-884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri). As a reminder, holders of the student All-Sports Pass or the KMIZ-ZOU Spirit Pass gain free admission to all women's basketball games.