Nov. 13, 2009

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (Friday, November 13, 2009) – The Redhawks women’s basketball team opened up the 2009-2010 campaign in winning fashion on Friday evening at the Show Me Center. Like the previous two season openers the Redhawks won with a 66-53 win over NCAA Division II school Missouri-St. Louis. The win also extended the Redhawks home winning streak to eight games dating back to last season.

The opening half started slowly offensively for both teams as they combined to score just nine points in the opening five minutes. The Tritons held the early advantage and led by as much as three points, 9-6 at the 13:07 mark.

Freshman Brittany Harriel (Lakota West/Cincinnati, Ohio.) sparked a Redhawks (1-0) rally off the bench as she scored five points including a three-pointer at the 9:09 mark to give the Redhawks a 15-13 advantage. That lead would hold the rest of the game with the Redhawks using a 14-6 run to grab a ten-point lead with 55 seconds remaining in the first half, their largest of the half.

The Redhawks shot 50-percent in the opening half and took advantage of 16 Triton turnovers to score 14 of their 33 first half points.

The Triton started the second half with a three-pointer by Kristi White to make it a 33-28 game, that would be the closest they would get the remainder of the game as the Redhawks exploded with a 16-3 run capped by a Jasmine Davis (Hughes Center/Cincinnati, Ohio.) three-point play to make it 49-30 with 13:33 remaining.

The 19-point lead wasn’t the largest lead by the Redhawks however as they twice grabbed 21-point leads with the last one coming at 9:08 with Monica Miller (Lausanne Prep/Memphis, Tenn.) splitting a pair of free throw for a 54-33 lead.

The Tritons try to make a late run and managed to cut the lead to 11 points, with 1:13 left thanks to a 16-0 run but the deficit was too much to overcome and Bailie Roberts (Maryville/Maryville, Tenn.) put an end to their run with a lay-up with just under a minute for the final score of the game.

It was a sloppy game as the two team combined for 60 turnovers with the Redhawks committing 29 and forcing 31. The Redhawks turned those 31 miscues to 26 points. Three Redhawks recorded three steals apiece as the team finished with 16.

The inside game came alive for the Redhawks as well as they outscored the Tritons 28-14 in the paint and outrebounded them 34-25.

The Redhawks finished with a field goal percentage of 45-percent and held the Tritons to 35-percent. From the charity stripe the Redhawks went 16-20.

The freshmen led the way for the Redhawks with Davis leading all players with 13 points in her first collegiate game. She went 4-8 from the field and a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe.

Roberts, joining Davis as freshmen starters in the season opener, poured in 12 points on 4-7 shooting she too was perfect from the line going 4-4 on freebies. She also pulled down six rebounds and recorded three turnovers.

Katie Norman (Freeport/Freeport, Ill.) came off the bench to score 10 points as she went 4-5 from the field including a perfect 2-2 from beyond the three-point arc.

Harriel finished with eight points, all in the first half, and led all players with eight rebounds. She also notched three steals.

Junior Lauren Sharpe (Tippecanoe/Tipp City, Ohio.) and sophomore Bianca Beck (Incarnate Word/St. Louis, Mo.) each finished with eight points apiece.

The Tritons were led by White and Caitlyn Moody who each finished with 12 points.

The Redhawks extended their winning streak against the Tritons to 16 games. It was also the Redhawks tenth-straight home opener victory.

The Redhawks return to the Show Me Center on Monday, November 16 at 7:00 p.m. to face Southern Miss.