Cowgirls Come Up Short Against Missouri In First Round

Oklahoma State's final run in the last five minutes of the game came up short Wednesday night as the Cowgirls fell in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament to Missouri 72-68.

The Cowgirls fought back from a 25-point second-half deficit to get within 71-68 on a 3-pointer by Lindsey Keller with 23 seconds remaining. But Missouri's Morgan Eye made an insurance free throw for the Tigers, and Bias' missed 3-pointer was Oklahoma State's last shot.

The Tigers hit seven of its first eight shots from the floor to build a 14-6 lead, but the Cowgirls answered with 3-pointers on three consecutive trips down the floor to jump in front by one. Missouri responded quickly and used an 8-3 spurt to close out the half and take a 37-29 lead into the intermission.

After the break, MU scored the first five of the second half to extend the margin to 13 at 42-29, while holding the Cowgirls scoreless for more than five minutes.

Missouri built its largest lead at 59-34 before OSU began to chip away and get back into the contest.

The Cowgirls got back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Tiffany Bias and freshman Jordan Schultz to cut the margin to 11 at 62-51 with five minutes to go. OSU got another 3-pointer from junior Lindsey Keller to cut the deficit to eight, but Missouri answered with a trey of its own.

Bias then scored five points in a row, the last being a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to pull the Cowgirls within five at 70-65.

After a Tiger free throw, Keller buried another 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to cut the margin to three, but OSU would not score again.

The loss snaps OSU's three-game streak and moves the Cowgirls to 16-12 on the year, while the Tigers, the No. 10 seed, improved to 13-17.

Bias paced the Cowgirls with 24 points followed by Toni Young's 13 points and 11 rebounds. Keller added 11 points and nine boards.

Christine Flores scored 24 points to lead Missouri and BreAnna Brock tallied 15 points and 13 rebounds.

The Tigers now face the No. 2 seed Oklahoma on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals.