Jan. 23, 2010
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COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri women's basketball team pulled off an upset of No. 10 Baylor, 70-62, Saturday afternoon at Mizzou Arena for the first Tiger win over a top-10 team since Missouri knocked off No. 4 and defending national champion Baylor 64-61 on Jan. 4, 2006. Mizzou improves to 11-7 overall and 1-4 in Big 12 Conference play while Baylor falls to 14-4 and 1-3 in league action.
Senior Jessra Johnson led four players in double figures with a game high 19 points. Sophomore Christine Flores narrowly missed a double-double with 15 points, on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, and a game high nine rebounds. Junior Jasmyn Otote knocked down four three-pointer for a career high 12 points, all in the first half, and senior Amanda Hanneman added 10 points.
The Bears opened the game on an 11-0 run before senior Amanda Hanneman got the Tigers on the board with a jumper 4:38 into the game. Missouri gradually chipped away at Baylor's lead, thanks to two layups from Flores and two three-pointers from Otote for a 17-16 Bear lead with 10:00 remaining in the half.
Baylor increased its lead to seven, 24-17, but a 9-0 run on three straight treys for the Tigers, including two more from Otote, gave the home team its first lead of the day, 26-24, with 3:27 on the clock. The teams stayed close the rest of the half and the Tigers took a 31-30 lead into the break thanks to two free throws from Flores with 41 seconds left.
A 10-5 Baylor run to open the second half gave the visiting team a four-point advantage, 40-36, with 15:18 on the clock. Missouri responded with a 12-0, started with a layup from junior RaeShara Brown and a three-point play from Flores as the Tigers retook the lead, 41-40, with 14:18 remaining.
The run continued with a free throw from junior Shakara Jones, a three-pointer from senior Marissa Scott and a layup from Jones for a 47-40 game with 12:33 left in the contest.
Trailing 55-47, Baylor's offense came alive as the visiting team used a 13-6 run of its own to cut Missouri's lead to one, 61-60, with 4:39 on the clock.
Johnson then scored five straight points for Mizzou, then grabbed a steal that lead to a layup from Brown as the Tigers increased their lead to 68-60, with 2:28 remaining. Two Baylor free throws got the Bears within 68-62 one minute later but the Tiger defense held tight and secured to 70-62 win.
The Tigers next travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a 7 p.m. game against No. 12/17 Oklahoma State on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Mizzou then returns home to "Pack the Zou" against Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 30 in the Heart of the Tiger event. All tickets for the game are just $1 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to heart health research. The first 500 fans will also receive a free T-shirt.
