Creighton University
Missouri
Missouri Hangs On for 70-66 Win Over Women's Basketball
12/2/2006 2:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Chevelle Herring scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Bluejays in a 70-66 loss to Missouri Saturday evening at Mizzou Arena as part of the State Farm Tiger Classic. Despite Creighton's most narrow margin of defeat on the season, the Bluejays dropped to 0-6, while the Tigers improved to 6-1 with the victory. Creighton will now play Eastern Illinois Sunday at 5 p.m. in the consolation game of the event.
Mizzou led by as many as 10 in the first half, up 30-20 with 2:08 to play. But the Bluejays closed the half on a 9-2 run to get within three at the half, down 32-29 to the tournament host. Herring scored six of her career-high 18 in the final two minutes of the first half to pace the Bluejay run.
The Tigers opened the second half with the first four points to go up by seven, but the Bluejays responded with the next six to get with 36-35 on an Ally Thrall layup at 15:27 to play. But Mizzou continued to push the tempo, scoring 10 fast-break points in the second half while pushing to its largest lead of the game, up 57-43 with 8:57 to play.
But as the Bluejays have done all season, they did not give in despite being down. Mizzou led 65-52 with 4:38 to play before the Bluejays caught fire, scoring the next 10 points in the game to trail by three with 2:02 to play. Herring hit two of her three three-point field goals during the 10-0 run. The Bluejays could get no closer than three however, falling by four to the Big 12 foe.
Herring scored 18 points in just 22 minutes of play. The sophomore guard shot 6-of-12 from the field and 3-of-8 from long range. She was perfect at the line, 3-for-3, to continue her perfect start at the charity stripe this year, where she has now made all 14 of her attempts this year and 22 straight dating back to last year.
Thrall finished with 17 points, making 6-of-16 shots from the field while playing all 40 minutes. The 5-foot-6 point guard also led all players with a season-high nine rebounds. She helped the Jays out-rebounded the Tigers 34-31.
Mizzou center EeTisha Riddle led four Tigers in double figures with 20 points, 13 coming in the second half. She also logged a game-best six turnovers, as the Bluejays turned the ball over a season-high 27 times.
CU shot 51.9 percent in the second half to finish 45.6 from the field in the game, but the Tigers made 66.7 (16-24) shots in the second half to stay ahead of the Bluejays. CU once again did itself in with turnovers, as the Tigers scored 28 points off of CU turnovers.
The Bluejays will look to avoid their first 0-7 start since the 1996-97 campaign when they face Eastern Illinois on Sunday. The Panthers lost the first game of the Tiger Classic, 67-66, to Alabama A&M to drop to 2-4 on the year. EIU is 1-2 against the Missouri Valley Conference this season, with losses to Indiana State and Illinois State as both squads scored better than 100 points against the Panthers. EIU opened the year with a 92-75 win over Bradley.
The Jays and Panthers will meet for just the second time in program history on Sunday (EIU won 83-73 in 1982). Tipoff will take place at approximately 5 p.m. following the MU-AAMU contest. The game can be heard live on Spirit 88.9 FM and www.kvss.com.
