Women's basketball downs Central Missouri
Senior forward Amanda Hanneman scored a game-high 20 points.
Published Nov. 10, 2009
The Missouri women's basketball season officially started Sunday as the Tigers defeated Central Missouri 80-59 in an exhibition match at Mizzou Arena.
Senior forward Amanda Hanneman led all scorers with 20 points (18 coming in the first half), and junior forward Shakara Jones finished with 16 points in 38 minutes. Senior guard Toy Richbow, junior guard RaeShara Brown and senior forward Marissa Scott each grabbed a game-high six rebounds and sophomore center Kendra Frazier led the team with two blocks.
"I'm pleased with our effort," coach Cindy Stein said. "I thought our energy was good, but there are a few things we need to get better at."
The Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the beginning of the game. Turnovers and sloppy play allowed Central Missouri to fight back and tie the game at 17.
The Tigers worked together to take a 40-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Missouri posted a 59.3 percent field goal shooting percentage during the first half, including Hanneman's seven of eight from the floor and made six free throws out of seven attempts. The Tigers committed 15 turnovers in the first half, something Stein discussed during halftime.
"We kept trying to make things happen," Stein said. "We needed to be patient, control our emotions and take care of the ball better."
In the second half, Jones continued the Tiger's hot scoring streak with seven points, and the Tigers grabbed their largest lead of the game, 50-23. Although Central Missouri fought back with a 12-2 run after that, the Tigers never let their lead shrink to less than 13 points throughout the rest of the game. Frazier finished the game on a positive note, scoring 10 of her 12 points in the final four minutes of the match.
Jones said the Tigers played with passion and heart.
"I got my confidence up, and my teammates' confidence helped me as well," Jones said. "We concentrated on what Coach Stein was saying during halftime, and we worked on taking care of the ball."
Hanneman said a big part of the victory came from extra time put in at practice working on shooting.
"I just kept shooting, and everyone was shooting well," Hanneman said. "We all came in after practice and over the summer just to work on our shooting."
Before the game, the team found out sophomore guard Bekah Mills was lost for the season with an ACL injury suffered during practice. Senior forward Jessra Johnson and sophomore forward Christine Flores also sat out the game with injuries.
"We didn't want to expose them," Stein said. "If it was a regular day, they would have played. But we have to play the healthy kids."
For Hanneman, Sunday's game was more than just an exhibition game. She is hoping to stay healthy throughout the season after injuries cut short her previous two seasons and said she first felt truly healthy over the summer.
"Words can't describe the feelings I'm experiencing right now," Hanneman said. "I'm just taking it all in."
The Tigers open the regular season at 5 p.m. next Sunday at Mizzou Arena against Northern Iowa.