Tigers dominate Texas-Pan American

Nine different players scored for Missouri.

By Emily Durfey

Published Dec. 11, 2009

The Missouri women's basketball team jumped out to a 41-18 lead at the half and never gave it up as it won 83-34 over Texas Pan-American on Thursday night at Mizzou Arena. Nine players scored for the Tigers as the team rebounded from a close game against Bradley on Tuesday.

"I felt like our subs came in and did a great job with energy," coach Cindy Stein said. "We had five people moving really well together. Our defense kicked it up a notch. When the subs came in, they made some great plays. We hit a few 3s in a row, which pumps our team up, as well as many fast break points."

At the beginning of the half, the Tigers struggled on offense as the Lady Broncs jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. Missouri came back by scoring the next 18 points, sparked by a layup from junior forward Shakara Jones. The Lady Broncs could not contain senior forward Amanda Hanneman, who paced the Tigers with nine points during that stretch, all scored on 3-point shots. Hanneman finished the game with 13 points.

The Lady Broncs committed 16 of their 30 turnovers in the first half, enabling the Tigers to force eight steals. The team ultimately forced 13 steals overall and dished out 15 assists.

"We don't want to lose big leads," Stein said. "We want to extend them, and I felt that our kids were very focused on getting that done."

Texas Pan-American did not score a free throw until 8:26 of the second half, hitting only four free throws during the entire game. The Broncos also did not score a 3-pointer during the entire game. Missouri sophomore center Kendra Frazier ended the game with a blocked shot, a dramatic finish to the Tigers' dominating performance.

"This was a good one for us," Stein said. "It was a game we needed, we wanted a lot of production from our bench. Our bench was a huge factor tonight."

The bench outscored the Lady Broncs by 20 points. Sophomore guard Bailey Gee had a career-high 14 points while sophomore forward Christine Flores also scored 14 points, hitting 6 of 7 free throws. All but two players played more than 10 minutes.

Both freshmen on the team, guards Sydney Crafton and Trenee Thornton, made their season debuts during the second half when Crafton scored her first points of her career by hitting a 3-point shot. During the second half, the Tigers hit nine of 14 free throws and shot 53.3 percent in field goal shooting.

"I think when the subs went in, we worked well together as a team," Gee said. "We do well together in practice, and everyone contributed to something."

Hanneman said the output from bench players came from working with different groups in practice.

"Coach Stein mixes us up in practice, and you have to find chemistry," Hanneman said. "I think we do a better job of it this year with splitting up more in practice and finding more chemistry with each other with whomever's out there in games."