COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Before a national television audience and the third-largest home crowd in Missouri women's basketball history, the trio of Evan Unrau (Fort Collins, Colo. / Rocky Mountain HS), Stretch James (Columbus, Ohio / Northland HS / Tyler [Texas] JC) and Kerensa Barr (West Plains, Mo. / West Plains HS) led the Tigers to a dominating 71-52 win over Colorado at the Hearnes Center on Sunday.
Unrau led all scorers with 18 points, James added 14 points and a Missouri career-high 11 rebounds, while Barr chipped in 14 points for the Tigers (10-8, 4-3 Big 12 Conference). It is Missouri's fourth win in five games, and puts the Tigers into a fifth-place tie in the league standings with Oklahoma.
Tera Bjorklund scored a team-high 17 points for Colorado (15-4, 5-3), which stands a half-game ahead of the Tigers and Sooners.
"I'm very proud of this team today. They had outstanding play and hit big shots throughout the game," Head Coach Cindy Stein said. "I know we have to play Colorado again, but it's nice to have this kind of victory at home in front of all these people."
Colorado took an early 8-4 lead on the strength of five points from Bjorklund. The Tigers countered with a 13-5 run over the next 5 minutes, 35 seconds heading into the under-12-minute media timeout. Missouri's defense forced shot-clock and 5-second violations on Colorado on two of the next three possessions, and a soft banker from James started the Tigers on a 12-0 run that spanned the next 3 minutes to give the partisan crowd of 8,563 cause to celebrate. When Barr took an errant pass and swished a 3-pointer from the right corner, it gave Mizzou a 30-16 cushion with 5:51 left in the half.
After a Bjorklund bucket, the Tigers went on another 8-0 run to push the lead to 41-20 on a 3-point play by Unrau. Sabrina Scott hit a leaner from 21 feet at the buzzer to bring the Buffs to within 41-23 at the half. Barr (13) and Unrau (12) combined to outscore Colorado in the first half; the Buffs committed 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes to Mizzou's four.
The Tigers continued to press the issue coming out of the locker room, boosting the lead to 25 on a 3-pointer by junior guard Tracy Lozier (Leawood, Kan. / Blue Valley North HS), then minutes later bumped the margin to 29 (58-29) on a coast-to-coast layup by freshman guard LaToya Bond (Urbana, Ill. / Urbana HS).
Sophomore center Megan Roney (Independence, Mo. / Truman HS) set new career highs with her eight points and six rebounds off the bench.
Missouri now hits the road for its next two contests, including a midweek trip to Manhattan, Kan., to face No. 3-ranked Kansas State this Wednesday, Feb. 5. Mizzou's next home game is next Wednesday, Feb. 12, against Iowa State. For ticket information, call 1-800-CAT-PAWS (573-884-PAWS in Mid-Missouri).
