Feb. 12, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Junior C Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) had a dominating night at Mizzou Arena on Saturday, scoring a game-high 23 points to lead Missouri to a 63-46 win over Texas A&M.
The Tigers (9-13, 3-8 Big 12), who won their second straight game, held the Aggies to their lowest shooting percentage of the season (28.6 percent on 18-of-63 shooting). The 43 points were also the third-fewest allowed by a Missouri squad in the nine years of the Big 12.
N'Garsanet was 10-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line in posting the best single-game shooting percentage by a Tiger in the last six years. Junior G LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS), fresh off her buzzer-beating 3-pointer at Colorado, followed up with perhaps her most complete game of the season: 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
"Obviously, the teams has been through a tough time with their natural leader gone, but the win at Colorado was huge. The death of Coach Stein's father has had an effect on the team," said Associate Head Coach Betsy Yonkman, who for the second straight game patrolled the Tiger sideline for Head Coach Cindy Stein. "But the team has bonded, and these wins are the best possible gift we could give her."
Down 4-2 in the early going, the Tigers hit the boards and went on an 11-0 run covering nearly six minutes. Sophomore F Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) pulled down six rebounds in the first seven minutes alone, and also knocked down a 3-pointer during the run. Savant finished the game just a rebound shy of her first career double-double, but did have 10 points to go with those nine rebounds. Sophomore F EeTisha Riddle (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon HS) had her second straight solid game with eight points and eight rebounds.
The Tigers extended their lead to 13 (23-10) with 5:00 left in the first; N'Garsanet had six points in that span, which found the Tigers shooting 50 percent from the field (10-of-20).
Mizzou took a 29-17 lead into the locker room, and N'Garsanet scored 10 straight points for the Tigers spanning the halves, outscoring the Aggies by six points in that time frame to push the Mizzou lead to 16 (35-19) with 17:46 left in the game.
Taking advantage of their height inside, the Tigers made seven of their first 10 second-half shots in building to their first 20-point lead of the game (47-27) on a Riddle jumper with 12:21 left. After an Ashley Bolden layup, the Aggies didn't close under 20 against until the closing seconds of the game.
The Tigers head to Waco, Texas, for the first of a two-game road trip Wednesday night at Baylor. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game may be heard on KWWC 90.5 FM, or online through Yahoo! audio at www.mutigers.com.