Feb. 7, 2004
AMES, Iowa - Senior guard MyEsha Perkins (Detroit, Mich. / Oak Park HS / Trinity Valley [Texas] JC) had a career night at Hilton Coliseum Saturday night to lead Missouri to a Big 12 season-high scoring output in an 81-62 win at Iowa State.
Perkins set career highs with 18 points and seven assists. She also had two rebounds. Senior All-America candidate Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS) led the Tigers with 19 points, while senior forward Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northland HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) added 18 points. Junior center Megan Roney (Independence, Mo. / Truman HS), making her first start of the Big 12 season, chipped in seven points with a game- and career-high 10 rebounds.
The Tigers (12-8, 3-6 Big 12) shot 54.4 percent from the field, Mizzou's best shooting night in two months, and also held Iowa State to just 33.3 percent from the field, including 19 percent (4-of-21) from 3-point range.
"I'm obviously very proud of our team," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "This is a tough place to play, and I have tremendous respect for Coach Fennelly after spending so much time with him this summer (at the World University Games in Korea). We made some tough plays that swung the momentum, and that was the key."
The Cyclones (10-10, 3-6) came out in a triangle-and-two defense, putting chasers on Unrau and senior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS). That left Perkins open on the perimeter to fire away, yet many of her baskets came on layups or other inside shots.
Roney hit a 15-foot jumper and a putback bank-shot on back-to-back possessions to push the Tiger advantage to 11-5 with 12:29 left. The Cyclones stormed back with a 9-0 run, capped by a short Lisa Kriener jumper.
With 8:21 left in the first half, Roney tallied the Tigers' 129th blocked shot of the season to set a new team single-season school record.
That seemed to spark the Tigers, who reeled off a 24-8 run to post a 35-22 lead with 2:46 left. Mizzou hit four 3-pointers in that span - one each by Unrau, two by Perkins and another by Lozier. The Tigers closed the half with three points from Roney in the final 1:07 to take a 40-27 lead into the locker room.
Iowa State made the first five points of the second half before James made a layup to boost the lead back to 42-32. The Tigers got 3-pointers from Unrau, Perkins and Lozier on consecutive field goals to increase the lead to 17 points (60-43) with 10:15 to go. The defense was stout as well, holding the Cyclones without a field goal for over 5 minutes, also getting a 5-second inbounds call and a shot-clock violation. In all, Iowa State was held to just one basket within the confines of its halfcourt offense for over 12 minutes.
The women return home Wednesday for a 7 p.m tipoff vs. current No. 16-ranked Baylor. 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.