Feb. 19, 2005
NORMAN, Okla. - Leah Rush had a game-high-tying 20 points, and Erin Higgins added 18 on six 3-pointers to lead Oklahoma to a 73-59 win over Missouri on Saturday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.
Junior center Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) had 20 points and nine rebounds for Mizzou (9-15, 3-10) , and sophomore forward Tiffany Brooks (Leavenworth, Kan. / Leavenworth HS / Kansas State) added 16 points, and junior guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) had 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Sooners (15-9, 7-6 Big 12) hit nine 3-pointers in all on the day, while the Tigers failed to hit one for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
While Higgins hit her first two 3-point attempts to give OU an 8-4 lead, the Tigers tied the game on a steal and coast-to-coast layup by Bond with 15 minutes, 59 seconds left in the first half. After a turnaround jumper from sophomore forward EeTisha Riddle (O'Fallon, Ill. / O'Fallon HS) made it 12-10 in favor of the Tigers, Oklahoma took the lead on a Rush jumper and a 3-point play from Lauren Shoush. Bond drove out of a double-team to drive for an acrobatic layup and a one-point deficit, yet the Sooners reeled off 12 straight points for a 27-14 advantage with 9:33 left.
Brooks broke OU's run with a putback of a missed 3-pointer, yet Britney Brown came back and hit a trey of her own - Oklahoma's fifth of the half - for a 30-16 Sooner lead. Yet the Tigers came out of the ensuing media timeout with good execution, and three straight buckets - capped by a nice feed from freshman guard Kassie Drew (Anna, Ill. / Anna-Jonesboro HS) to N'Garsanet - pulled Mizzou to within eight at 30-22 with 5:45 left.
The Tigers held Oklahoma without a field goal for the final 4:06 of the first half, and turnaround jumpers from sophomore forward Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) and N'Garsanet kept the Tigers within seven (37-30) at the half - the closest they'd been since 11:39 to go in the first half.
The two teams traded baskets in the first six scores of the second half, yet OU canned another 3-pointer to extend its lead to eight (44-36) at the first media timeout. That continued until a quick 7-0 run by OU, yet the Tigers countered with their own 7-0 spurt to pull back within eight at 55-47 with 8:48 left.
Oklahoma slowly started pulling away over the next several minutes, and Higgins' sixth 3-pointer put the Sooners up 16 (69-53) with 4:53 left.
"I thought we played really hard defensively. There were a couple of spells where we fell off, and we were playing catch-up the whole game," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "That spell in the first half bit us in the tail a little bit, and we couldn't get it back. At the same time, I liked our effort again. We've just had two tough losses on the road."
The Tigers return home for a 7 p.m. tipoff this Wednesday, Feb. 23, against Iowa State. For tickets, call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (573-884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri), visit the Mizzou Arena Box Office, or www.mutigers.com