Tigers take turn for the worse
MU’s offense can’t find net in an ugly loss.
Missouri’s RaeShara Brown (23) loses her footing battling for a rebound during Sunday's 65-39 loss to 22nd-ranked Iowa State at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers dropped to 11-11 overall, 1-8 in Big 12 play.
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Almost good enough gave way to almost bad enough for the Missouri women’s basketball team yesterday afternoon.
The Tigers, who time and again had hung close with tough teams even as they fell deeper into the Big 12’s basement, nearly set the program’s offense back 36 years in a 65-39 loss to Iowa State at Mizzou Arena.
In a game that began with Amanda Hanneman air-balling a 3-point attempt and ended with freshman Trenee Thornton doing the same, Missouri (11-11, 1-8 Big 12) missed 24 of its first 27 shots and remained fixed on 25 points midway through the second half. Only a run of five field goals over the final 10 minutes kept the Tigers from establishing the school’s record for offensive futility.
The low-water mark remains a 79-33 loss to Grand View on Nov. 30, 1974, in the program’s third game of existence. Yesterday’s output matched the third-lowest in school history.
Iowa State Coach Bill Fennelly said, “It’s hard to figure how these days happen,” while Missouri’s Cindy Stein called her team’s most lopsided loss of the season a game “to throw out the window.”
“The only option here for us is to keep fighting,” Stein said. “I mean, that’s our only option, because we’re not going to quit.”
Missouri, though, scraped a new bottom in falling for the ninth time in 10 games.
For weeks, the Tigers remained positive as the losses mounted. They had chances at home to beat No. 13 Oklahoma and Kansas in the final seconds. They upset 10th-ranked Baylor and gave No. 12 Texas A&M a game until the final minutes of a 65-55 loss Wednesday in College Station.
“We’ve been fighting away,” Stein said.
Yesterday was different.
No. 22 Iowa State (18-4, 6-3) stonewalled the home team in every way. The Tigers shot a season-low 24.1 percent (13 of 54), were outrebounded 47-23 by a team with a three-guard starting lineup and displayed only passing attention to defense.
Take Iowa State’s first three field goals, which came with no resistance. Senior all-conference guard Allison Lacey, who finished with a game-high 18 points, found forward Chelsea Poppens for an open layin after Tigers forward Jessra Johnson fell in the lane. Poppens beat Missouri down the floor in transition. And 5-foot-8 guard Denae Stuckey put in a third-chance opportunity.
MU typically found everything but the net against the Cyclones’ Big 12-leading defense.
Johnson’s line-drive leaner into the front of the rim opened a 2-of-12 shooting day from the Tigers’ leading scorer, and her teammates fared no better. The Tigers shot 5 of 30 from the field in the first half.
Stein called two timeouts in the first 6:30, but the words did little good. The hundreds of fans who came out for the 3 p.m. tip on Super Bowl Sunday never saw a competitive game.
The Tigers, led by 12 points from junior guard RaeShara Brown, fell behind 34-10 and looked the part of a defeated bunch. They were beaten down the floor at least four times in the first half.
Stein later said changes could be on the way.
“It might be the tipping point. We’ll see,” she said. “But I was very disappointed in our energy. Very disappointed in us getting up and down the floor on both ends, and you can’t win games doing that. So you’ve got to find people who are willing to do that.”
On not running the floor, she added, “That is unacceptable, inexcusable. … As I told them in one of our timeouts, I felt like we were having a little pity party and we’ve got to get tougher.”
So where from here? The players said they know the only way is up.
“If anything, this should motivate us even more,” junior guard Toy Richbow said, “because we’re better than how we performed.”
Reach David Briggs at dbriggs@columbiatribune.com.
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