COLUMBIA, Mo. - Despite trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Missouri women's basketball team battled back to within one of No. 9/9 Texas Tech in the closing seconds Tuesday night at the Hearnes Center. An Erin Grant driving layup with 10 seconds left, though provided for the winning margin in a 73-68 Lady Raider win.
Down nine with 4:08 left, senior All-America candidate Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) hit a 3-pointer, and senior forward Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northland HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) hit a pair of free throws with 3:03 to go. Following a Casey Jackson free throw, James hit a jumper and Unrau a pair of free throws with 1:25 remaining to pull the Tigers within one. Grant then drove the right side for her winning layup. With three seconds remaining and the Tigers in possession following a timeout down 71-68, the Tigers were called for an illegal screen, giving the ball back to Texas Tech. Alesha Robertson hit a pair of free throws with less than a second on the clock to seal the victory.
Unrau recorded her Big 12-leading 11th double-double, pouring in a game-high 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. James chipped in with 15 points and five blocks, and Bond dished out a team-leading five assists for Mizzou (13-10, 4-8 Big 12), which lost its third straight home game - all against ranked teams.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "There's a reason why Texas Tech is ranked in the top 10 in the country, and I think they prove it every night. Obviously, from our standpoint we felt like we did some good things and put ourselves in a position to win this game. Our free throw shooting and our rebounding are two areas that we could have done a better job at. We could have possibly won this game."
Both teams came out shooting hot - Mizzou from outside, and Texas Tech in the paint, where they scored 14 of their first 15 points in posting a 15-10 lead in the first 4 minutes, 11 seconds of the game. The Lady Raiders scored on their first eight possessions - and 12 of their first 13 - with the help of six offensive rebounds in the early going to build to a 26-16 lead with 12:16 left in the first.
Freshman forward EeTisha Riddle's (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon HS) third jumper of the half not only tied her season high going into the game, but also capped an 8-2 run that brought the Tigers back to within four (26-22) with 9:08 to go. Riddle set new career highs with eight points and two assists. Sophomore center Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Ivory Coast / Illinois Central College) trimmed the deficit to three after denying an entry pass, then driving coast-to-coast for the layup.
Texas Tech center Cisti Greenwalt went out with an injury on a play in which senior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS) scored on a layup to start another 8-2 Mizzou run. The Tigers got buckets in the paint from Unrau, Riddle and James to force the game's first tie scores (at 33 and 35) since the 16:49 mark. Yet the Lady Raiders closed with a pair of layups on the way to a 41-35 halftime lead.
The push at the end of the first half carried through the break, as Tech rolled off an 18-4 run over the next 8:40 to post a 53-39 lead. Yet N'Garsanet hit the first of two free throws, and after an offensive rebound Unrau nailed a 3-pointer to bring the deficit back to 10. Chesley Dabbs hit a pair of jumpers, yet down 14 with 11:56 left, the Tigers slowly started chipping away.
Sophomore guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) and senior guard MyEsha Perkins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley [Texas] JC) each drove for easy layups, then James got five straight points over three possessions to pull Mizzou within seven (59-52) with 8:55 left.
The Tigers conclude their short homestand by welcoming another top-10 opponent, as No. 8 Kansas State will tip off against Mizzou at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be televised statewide over affiliate of the Mizzou Sports Network. 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.