Tigers start slow, lose big

By Ross Taylor, Staff Writer
Jan. 25, 2008

The last time Baylor women's basketball team traveled to Mizzou Arena, the then-No. 4 and defending national champion Bears were upended by the Tigers, 64-61.

The upset remains MU's biggest since joining the Big 12 Conference.

On Wednesday, slow offensive production and trouble defending in the paint doomed the MU women and negated any shot at a repeat performance. The Tigers fell to the No. 6 Bears, 72-57.

"They didn't do anything we didn't know about," MU coach Cindy Stein said. "We needed to play with a little bit more fire in us, and you've got to go after teams like that. That's your chance. We failed to do that."

Baylor (17-1, 5-0) appeared sluggish early and committed nine first-half turnovers. But Missouri (8-10, 1-4) managed only 4 points on the ensuing possessions, which gave Baylor time to right the ship and eventually pull away.

"Baylor was ripe for the picking tonight," MU coach Cindy Stein said. "I didn't feel like they played their best game, and we obviously didn't either.

"When you have the No. 6 team in the country coming in you've got to be on your 'A' game and we were not."

Missouri's offense suffered from poor field goal shooting compounded with early trouble at the free throw line. Entering the game, MU ranked second to last in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.639) and dead last in field goal percentage (.405).

The Tigers went 18 of 27 from the free throw line, thanks largely to several late fouls by Baylor. But the poor field goal percentage haunted MU against Baylor, and the Tigers shot just under 35 percent from the field.

"Sometimes I think we shoot way too early out on the perimeter without a touch going inside," Stein said. "Then there's times we're wide open, and we're so excited that we're open that we're 'heave-ho-ing.' A lot of that is experience."

Sophomore Jessra Johnson led the Tigers with 18 points and eight rebounds. Junior Alyssa Hollins and freshman Shakara Jones each finished with 10 points, despite both players entering halftime with 2 points.

Following the game, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, who became the sixth fastest coach to reach 200 wins in NCAA women's Division I with Wednesday's victory, praised the defensive work of Baylor senior Angela Tisdale, whose primary responsibility was to shut down Hollins.

"That was the game plan going in: 'Tisdale, don't let (Hollins) get a three, and make sure anything she gets, she has to work for,'" Mulkey said.

Defensively, MU couldn't counter Baylor's inside presence. The Bears scored 12 of their first 15 points in the paint and drove the baseline at will for the majority of the first half. Baylor outscored Missouri in the paint by a 42-22 margin.

After the game, Stein attributed Baylor's strong inside game to the respect teams must pay to all of Baylor's offensive weapons on the perimeter.

"It's hard to double down because you leave somebody wide open," Stein said. "That's what makes their inside game so good. If you're not guarding them outside, you're going to get killed there too."

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Tigers start slow, lose big

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