MU women's basketball ready to step up

Women's basketball looks to start fresh with a more experienced team.

By Evan Glantz

Published Nov. 3, 2008

The 2007-2008 season was one the Missouri women's basketball team would like to forget. As the eighth-youngest team in the nation, the Tigers struggled to a 10-21 record while playing in a tough conference. But with a more experienced team this year, Missouri is hoping to surprise a few of the critics.

"We were really young last year," guard senior Alyssa Hollins said. "Many people got a lot of experience, a lot of minutes, so we expect them to learn from that and come out this year and be very competitive."

One benefit to a tough last season was that the team had time to grow together. Of the 10 players on the squad last year, eight returned to Missouri. Better still, Hollins is the lone senior on the team. The youth provides solid routes for the program to grow.

"I think the confidence level is huge," coach Cindy Stein said. "A 30-second timeout and getting them to hustle last year, they didn't get why until the first couple games. We don't have to go through all those little things anymore. They have high expectations for themselves. We're very disappointed in last year. The more people question whether we're going to be any good, that just fires them up even more."

Missouri's record last year was somewhat deceiving. Although they had a losing record, opponents only outscored the Tigers by an average of 66-58. In addition, Missouri forced more turnovers than it allowed per game. The goal this season is to continue that competitive play while earning more wins along the way.

"We expect to be in every game, and we expect to win a lot of games," Stein said. "The expectation is just making sure this group can stay focused on getting better day by day and game by game. We can't get wrapped up in what the media wants to talk about or what other people think. We've got to concentrate on us just getting better."

However, the Big 12 conference offers no reprieve. At the end of last season, eight teams were ranked in the top 40, with six ranked in the top 25. Those opponents will be tough again this year.

"We expect to be a winning team and we expect to prove everyone wrong," junior forward Jessra Johnson said. "When everyone puts you down, you can't do anything else but show them that you can be better than what they expected."

The Tigers are confident in their ability. They have moved on from last season and learned some important lessons from the experience as well.

"I think it's good to fly under the radar," Hollins said. "Because then you can surprise people. We know what we are capable of, and we know the potential that we have. We just have to work hard so we can fulfill that potential."