Tigers’ lead doesn’t hold against Memphis
Missouri struggled to contain Memphis in the second half.
Published Nov. 18, 2009
The Missouri women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday night, falling 75-74 against the Memphis Tigers.
Despite Missouri playing a strong first half and leading by as much as 20 points near halftime, the Tigers allowed Memphis to crawl back into the game. Memphis stole the game when Memphis sophomore guard Brittany Carter hit a field goal with 12 seconds remaining in the game.
“It’s a tale of two halves,” coach Cindy Stein said. “I felt like we should’ve won it, but Memphis made the plays we didn’t. I felt like our kids panicked. Part of our development is learning to win, and that’s the strength of this team. We will learn from it. We’ve got to roll with it. If we make our free throws, we win.”
Missouri opened the game on a 7-0 lead thanks to hard work underneath the basket. The Tigers had problems with sloppy passing to start the first half but slowly improved as the half went on.
Memphis aggressively drove to the basket, but only three players had managed to score by the end of the half, and Missouri went into the locker room leading 41-24.
That’s when things changed.
Memphis made its first 3-pointer at the beginning of the second half and roared back to chip away at its deficit as the half drew on.
Chambers and Memphis senior guard LaToya Bullard continued to puzzle Missouri’s defense and continued to drive the lane. At the other end of the court, Missouri’s offense sputtered as the team shot only 12.5 percent in 3-point shooting and 36.7 percent in field goal shooting after shooting 30 percent and 43.6 percent in those categories in the first half, respectively.
Missouri only shot 53.8 percent in free throws. In the end, a critical turnover with slightly more than a minute to play led to Memphis taking the lead for the first time during the game, and it held onto it until the end.
Missouri senior forward Jessra Johnson and junior forward Shakara Jones provided much of the scoring for the Tigers during the game, with Johnson providing 24 points and Jones putting up 16. Senior forward Amanda Hanneman added 10 points and senior forward Marissa Scott contributed nine.
“It’s disappointing because no one on the team likes to lose,” Johnson said. “It’s important to win games. There are a lot of things that I could have done better.”
Memphis’s win had special meaning for head coach Melissa McFerrin, who played for Missouri during the '80s.
Wednesday’s game marked a homecoming to her alma mater, and McFerrin said she was very happy getting the win at Mizzou Arena.
“This place is very special to me,” McFerrin said. “This institution taught me pride about what a basketball team is about, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Stein said the Tigers will work hard this week in order to bounce back. The team will next play Sunday at Indiana.
“We will look at the tapes,” Stein said. “We will definitely working on free throw shooting this week in practice.”