Missouri women's basketball downs Bradley 83-54

The team remained strong in the second half against Bradley on Tuesday.

By Greg Young

Published Dec. 11, 2008

After a late November 94-93 loss to Holy Cross in triple overtime that dropped their record to 1-4, the Missouri Tigers women's basketball team could have given up all hope.

They were only 1-2 at home and had given Holy Cross its only win of the year.  But before a crowd of fewer than 200 people Tuesday night, the Tigers instead showed they had progressed in the opposite direction, beating a 6-2 Bradley team 83-54 to extend their winning streak to three games and improve their record to 4-4.

Bradley came into the game sustaining a four-game winning streak, having beaten Illinois 71-53 on Tuesday. The Tigers fell to the Illini 65-55 on Nov. 19.

"We took the first couple of losses a little bit hard, and that pushed everyone to increase their game," sophomore guard RaeShara Brown said.

The Tigers started the game on a 9-2 run and never looked back. They were able to force the Braves into 31 turnovers, which led to 34 Missouri points. Missouri, meanwhile, only gave up 15 turnovers, which led to just 10 Bradley points.

"I am really proud of our defense," coach Cindy Stein said. "We keep getting better and better in that area."

There was one troubling stretch for Missouri when, with 5:45 left in the first half, Bradley cut the Tiger's lead to 23-21, going on a 13-2 run fueled by six Missouri turnovers. Nine of Missouri's 15 turnovers came in the first half.

"There are times where we were too open in the first half and I don't think we were making good decisions," Stein said. "We were pulling up and taking 15-foot jumpers with no rebounders. We were making really poor decisions and we were really sloppy with our passes."

Missouri only allowed Bradley four points for the rest of the half and ended the first half up 39-25. In the second half, Missouri never let the Braves get any closer than 10 points and held them scoreless for the final 3:44 of the game.

"It is good to go into the second half with some momentum," Stein said.

The difference in shooting between the first and second halves was dramatic.  Missouri shot 44 percent in the first half and 52 percent in the second. The team made six of eight 3-pointers in the second period after making only three of 11 in the first half.

The Tigers were led by junior forward Jessra Johnson and redshirt freshman Bekah Mills, who both had 16 points. Johnson and Mills also led the team in rebounding, with seven and six rebounds, respectively.

"I felt really fresh going into the game today. Everyone was ready to play and was excited," senior guard Alyssa Hollins said. "We've been talking about Bradley for awhile."