Seniors emotional after final game
Published March 2, 2007
When the final buzzer sounded on Missouri's 70-66 home loss to the Kansas Jayhawks Thursday night, team members didn't sulk back to the locker room. Instead they stayed on the court to say goodbye to seven of their own.
After multiple video montages of the seven senior players and two managers, including one with the always-predictable "Here's to the Night" playing, the players walked onto Norm Stewart Court, flanked by their families.
As emotional as some of them were on the floor, they were almost more so afterward. Senior forward Carlynn Savant had trouble even describing her emotions, but her actions spoke for her.
"It's hard thinking that's your last time out there," she said, beginning to cry. "You put a lot of effort into it. It's really hard because I love the girls, and I love the coaches so much," she said with her voice weakening and her eyes beginning to well up.
At that point, both Savant and senior forward EeTisha Riddle, standing to her right in the media room, began to cry. Riddle slumped over and hid her eyes in the neck of her jersey.
Senior Tiffany Brooks said it is hard for her to forget about the meaning of Thursday night, as much as she tried.
"You try to look at it as just another Big 12 game," she said. "But it's always in the back of your mind as you play."
With the seniors leaving after two NCAA Tournament runs in 2005 and 2006, the Tigers will lose four of their five leading scorers and 52.5 points per game: nearly 75 percent of their average output.
Despite that, the four leading scorers, Brooks, Riddle, Marchelle Campbell and Savant, were all seniors. Riddle set a career high with five blocks.
Stein said earlier in the season that the seniors are the team's core, not just in terms of statistics but in the locker room as well.
"The seniors are our leaders," she said after a win against Colorado in January. "They motivate the rest of the team and they're invaluable."
Unless Missouri can win the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, the seven seniors might get at least one more home game in the Women's NIT, starting March 12. But they will never be escorted onto the court they have called home for the last three years (after one in the Hearnes Center) by their loved ones again, which Riddle found difficult to talk about.
"It's really hard," she said. "I don't want to get into it because I don't want to start crying again."