Nov. 21, 2009

Final Stats

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Saturday, November 21, 2009) - The Redhawks women's basketball had a tough introduction to their road schedule on Saturday afternoon. The Redhawks were routed 72-46 at Missouri State at John Q. Hammons Arena. The loss was their first of the season as they dropped their fourth-straight road contest dating back to last season.

The Redhawks (2-1) led early in the first half 10-6 on a Lauren Sharpe (Tippecanoe/Tipp City, Ohio.) three-pointer. The Bears (2-1) clawed back to tie the game at 12-all with 11:28 in the opening half and then used a 26-5 run to grab a 21-point first half lead with 1:39 left.

During that run the Redhawks when scoreless for nearly seven minutes as the Bears scored 18-unanswered points. Last year's Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Casey Garrison scored seven of those points.

Bianca Beck (Incarnate Word/St. Louis, Mo.) drained a three-pointer with 1:17 left in the first half to knock the Bears lead back under 20 points, 38-20. The Bears used three free throws to push that lead back to a first half high 21-points with 46-seconds left. Freshman Brittany Harriel (Lakota West/Cincinnati, Ohio.) drained a short jumper to make it a 19-point game as the half.

The Redhawks shot just 33-percent in the half and committed 11 turnovers. However it was under the rim that the Redhawks really struggled as they were out-rebounded 25-11.The Bears actually had more offensive rebounds (14) than the Redhawks had total.

Any hope of a comeback for the Redhawks were quickly erased to start the second half. The Bears hit two-straight easy buckets to push the lead to 23, 45-22.

A 9-1 run by the Redhawks cut the lead to 16, 47-31 with 15:40 remaining. That would be the closest they would get the remainder of the game as the Bears answered with 23-6 run over the next 12 minutes to grab their largest lead of the game.

The Bears shot 46-percent from the field including 50-percent in the second half. The Redhawks finished at 33-percent. The Bears turned 24 Redhawks turnovers into 28 points. The rebounding battle was won by the Bears as well, 43-30. The Bears turned 17 offensive rebounds into 16 points.

Sharpe was the lone Redhawk to score in double-figures as she finished with a season-high 14 points.

Beck scored eight points and tied a career-high with five rebounds.

Senior Lesley Adams (Mineral Area C.C./St. Louis, Mo.) recorded a game-high and career-best ten rebounds.

Freshman Jasmine Davis (Hughes Center/Cincinnati, Ohio.) had a team-high four assists.

Garrison led all scorers with 19 points as she went 6-6 from the field and 6-8 from charity stripe. She also added a team-high seven rebounds and game-highs of six assists and three steals.

Christiana Shorter chipped in ten points with nine of those coming in the first half.

The Redhawks will face another Missouri Valley Conference opponent during this early season road trip on Tuesday, November 24. The Redhawks will face Indiana State in Terre Haute, Indiana at 5:00 p.m.CST