University of Missouri
Texas-Rio Grande Valley
Mizzou Cruises to 83-34 Victory
12/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The University of Missouri women's basketball team used 54 points from the bench as the team cruised to an 83-34 victory over Texas-Pan American Thursday night at Mizzou Arena. With the win, the Tigers improve to 6-2 on the season while the Broncs fall to 1-9.
Sophomores Christine Flores and Bailey Gee each scored 14 points to pace the Tigers. Gee's output, which came on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, was a new career high. Senior Amanda Hanneman also reached double figures with 13 points, while sophomores BreAnna Brock and Kendra Frazier also notched career highs with eight and seven points, respectively.
After the Broncs opened an 8-4 advantage just over five points into the game, the Tigers responded with a 20-0 run over the next four minutes. Junior Shakara Jones got the onslaught started with a layup, followed by five consecutive threes, including three in a row from Hanneman, from the Tigers, as the team went ahead 24-8 with 9:36 on the clock.
The offense continued to click for Missouri over the final minutes of the first half, spearheaded by bench play. Reserves accounted for 15 of the Tigers' final 17 points of the first 20 minutes, including seven points from Flores and six from Gee as the team entered the break with a commanding 41-18 lead.
The Tigers started right where it left off in the second half as the team flew out to a 14-2 run over the first seven and a half minutes for a 55-20 advantage with 12:38 on the clock. The lead continued to grow and hit 39, 70-31, when freshman Sydney Crafton scored the first three points of her college career on a trey, with just over seven minutes left in the contest.
Crafton's three kicked off another run, this time 16-3, to close out the game for Mizzou. A three-point play by Frazier concluded scoring as the Tigers finished the game with its biggest lead of the night, 49 points.
As a team, Missouri scored 31 points off Texas-Pan American's 30 turnovers. The Tigers grabbed 13 steals in the game, led by junior RaeShara Brown's three, and swatted away seven blocks, including a career high tying three from Flores.
Missouri returns to Mizzou Arena for a contest against Murray State on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on the Mizzou Sports Network with Beau Baehman on play-by-play duties and former Iowa State Cyclone Anne O'Neil serving as the color analyst. The contest can be found on Fox Sports Midwest in mid-Missouri, Metro Sports in Kansas City, in addition to Universal Sports in Columbia.
