March 9, 2005
Box Score
KANSAS CITY - The third double-double of the season from junior center Christelle N'Garsanet (Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire / Illinois Central College) was not enough to offset four Baylor players in double-figure scoring, as the No. 6-ranked Lady Bears registered a 70-52 win over Missouri in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, played Wednesday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium.
The ninth-seeded Tigers end their season at 11-18, while top-seeded Baylor (25-3) will advance to a Thursday semifinal matchup against the winner of the Iowa State/Texas Tech contest.
N'Garsanet had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS) added 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Sophomore forward Tiffany Brooks (Leavenworth, Kan. / Leavenworth HS / Kansas State) had 10 points for the Tigers. Sophia Young led Baylor with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Chameka Scott added 16 points, Steffanie Blackmon 10 points and nine rebounds, and Latoya Wyatt 11 points.
The Tigers took early 2-0 and 4-2 leads, drawing two Lady Bear fouls before Baylor reeled off a 11-0 run over the next 2 minutes, 47 seconds. The Tigers recovered with an acrobatic layup from Bond and an inside move from N'Garsanet to pull within five (13-8) with 15:50 to play in the half.
Turnovers plagued the Tigers, allowing Baylor to throw another 9-0 run at Mizzou to post a 22-8 lead just 1:44 after the first media timeout. Bond answered with back-to-back buckets, yet the Lady Bears were unrelenting, scoring eight of the game's next 10 points, with many coming off the fastbreak.
The Lady Bears increased the lead to 20 points (38-18) following a Sophia Young putback, yet the Tigers closed the half on a 9-3 run with the help of a 3-pointer from sophomore forward Carlynn Savant (Euless, Texas / Trinity HS) and free throws from senior center Megan Roney (Independence, Mo. / Truman HS) and Brooks.
Baylor hit 56.7 percent of its shots in the first half (17-of-30), while Mizzou was 9-for-25 (36.0 percent). The rebounding battle was close, with the Lady Bears edging out a two-board advantage. Missouri's 12 turnovers, though, were double that of BU's, and allowed Baylor 12 points off those miscues.
The teams traded buckets for the first six possessions before the Tigers went on a quick 7-0 run to pull within 10 (47-37) with 16:03 left on a Roney 3-pointer. Yet Baylor countered with a decisive 13-0 run midway through the second half to put the game away.
