Missouri loses in the last seven minutes against Nebraska

By Ross Taylor
Feb. 5, 2008

Freshman guard Jasmyn Otote keeps possession despite a desperate dive for the ball by Baylor freshman guard Melissa Jones in January at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers have suffered six straight losses and face Oklahoma tomorrow at home.

For the first 30 minutes against Nebraska on Sunday, the MU women’s basketball team avoided the mistakes that had cost them early in conference play.

The Tigers were protecting the basketball, getting offensive contributions from key players and coming up with defensive stops where they could get them.

But with 6 minutes, 37 seconds remaining in what appeared to be Missouri’s second conference victory, things fell apart.

MU struggled to get defensive stops and effectively kill the clock, as Nebraska ended the game on a 26-8 run en route to a 73-67 victory over the Tigers at Mizzou Arena.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-13 overall and 1-7 in Big 12 play. While certainly painful, the loss might have actually put the Tigers back on track.

MU’s offense, which had disappeared over the past two games with losses at Texas and Texas A&M, responded with its first 65-plus point performance since a 75-73 win over UM-Kansas City in mid-December.

Junior guard Alyssa Hollins led the offensive resurgence by scoring 20 points, with 8-of-14 coming from the field. Hollins, who trails only Iowa State’s Kimberly Dietz in 3-point shots made in conference play, went 4-of-7 from the 3-point range. Hollins now needs only eight more to tie Tracy Lozier for second all-time in 3-pointers made at Missouri.

While Hollins paced the offense, the Tigers also benefited from impressive evenings from sophomore forward Jessra Johnson and freshman forward Shakara Jones. Johnson’s 17 points and Jones’ 12 exposed Nebraska inside and kept the Cornhuskers from being able to key on Hollins on the perimeter.

Defensively, the Tigers had little answer for Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin. The 6-2 junior scored a season-high 23 points, 17 of which came in the second half.

Griffin finished 7-of-11 from the field, but he did a large part of her damage at the free-throw line, where she made 9-of-12 attempts. The entire Missouri team shot a total of seven free throws.

MU now sits in the midst of a six-game losing streak, having not won since its second conference game against Texas Tech.

Wednesday, the Tigers will host the Big 12’s highest scoring and best rebounding team when they play Oklahoma at 6:30 p.m. Oklahoma is led by superstar junior center Courtney Paris, who averages 15.9 points per game in conference play and leads the Big 12 with 13.6 rebounds per conference game.

Share on Facebook

Missouri loses in the last seven minutes against Nebraska

More Feb. 5, 2008 Sports Stories

Most recent Sports Stories