Tigers beat Ohio in close game
Published Dec. 8, 2006
Before Wednesday night, the Missouri women's basketball team's seven previous wins had come by an average of 15.7 points per game, and it looked as though its game against the Ohio Bobcats would follow that trend. After all, the Tigers opened up a 33-17 lead in the first half and were cruising.
But MU (8-1) watched as the 16-point first-half lead became a two-point second-half deficit.
But the Tigers, led by senior center EeTisha Riddle's career-high 22 points, didn't fold and held on for a 70-67 win, handing Ohio its first loss of the season.
"The first eight minutes or so of the game we were focused, and then the second half wasn't the prettiest thing to watch," coach Cindy Stein said.
After Missouri took a seemingly comfortable nine-point lead with less than a minute left, the Bobcats (5-1) got back into the game because the Tigers couldn't hit free throws and got careless with the ball. Up by three points with two seconds left, senior guard Blair Hardiek missed two free throws.
But Ohio junior Lauren Kohn couldn't hit a 75-foot desperation shot at the buzzer.
Hardiek said she felt the Bobcats breathing down her neck as she took the potential game-icing shots.
"It was stressful on those two free throws," she said. "Fortunately, we got out of it anyway."
Stein said she was worried when her team faltered after taking a big lead, but she was happy to be able to bounce back and still win.
"We were up 16 and Ohio cut that in half quickly and that's a concern," she said. "But when we lost the lead, we had great defensive stands to get the ball back."
Stein said she thought the Tigers didn't necessarily lose focus in the second half, but fatigue set in. Every Tiger in the starting five all played at least 28 minutes.
"I don't know that we let down," Stein said. "But fatigue definitely set in and that's discouraging."
The Missouri defense was strong in the second half, holding Ohio to just 32 percent shooting from the floor in the period.
But the Tigers got out-rebounded 42 to 39 by a smaller Bobcat team, something Stein attributed to Ohio's aggressiveness.
"Ohio hit the boards really hard tonight," Stein said. "Effort was the key there."
Riddle came up huge when the Tigers needed it, scoring 18 of her 22 points in the second half. She has scored 62 points in her last three games, something that's surprised even herself. She also had 12 rebounds for her eighth career double-double.
"It's crazy," Riddle said. "I never expected anything like this."
With a game at Northwestern looming on Sunday, Stein said Wednesday's win could serve as a lesson in the importance of staying focused.
"There was a lot of carelessness on our part tonight," she said. "But I think you have to go through stuff like this over the course of a season. Fortunately, it didn't cost us the game."