Extra effort not enough for Tigers in home finale

Senior Tiffany Brooks scored the first two points against Kansas with two free throws. She went on to score nine of the team’s first 11.

But what Brooks was remembered for Thursday night was scrambling against Shaquina Mosley for a loose ball, and falling to the floor.

When she got up, she ran to the bench. She was bleeding above her eye and had chipped her right front tooth with more than a minute left in the game.

Brooks came back in with 16 seconds left. She didn’t want back in just because it could possibly be her last game in Mizzou Arena. The game was tied at at 66.

“It was real important,” she said. “I knew I was bleeding, or I wouldn’t be able to stay in there. So I tried to get over it, get it taken care of and get back in.”

Missouri lost 70-66 to Kansas on Thursday night. Brooks scored 19 points, and EeTisha Riddle had 16 for the Tigers.

“We were a little out of sync,” Missouri coach Cindy Stein said. “I think they were trying to handle the emotion of playing their last game, and I think they were in slow motion, not as instinctive.”

Missouri ended the first half trailing 35-29. The first time the Tigers (17-12, 5-11 Big 12) took the lead against the Jayhawks was in the second half. A 3-pointer by Marchele Campbell put Missouri ahead 43-42 with just less than 15 minutes to play.

Kansas (10-19, 4-12) regained the lead with a jumper and then a layup by Mosley to put the Jayhawks ahead 46-43 at the 13-minute mark. The Tigers would never regain the lead.

“I just thought we were real lackadaisical,” Brooks said. “We were standing a lot on offense, just throwing it into Tish. KU played great defense, I think after a while we realized that wasn’t going to work, so we started moving and getting the ball to different people.”

A 3-pointer by Carlynn Savant with just less than two minutes tied it at 64. Taylor McIntosh’s layup with 52 seconds to go gave the Jayhawks two more, but a jumper by Alyssa Hollins tied it at 66 with 38 seconds to play. Mosley then made a layup and two free throws to end the game.

“She (Mosley) can be a handful,” Stein said. “She’ll play around with you a little bit, and you’ve got to be active in defending it. The kid who probably hurt us was Taylor McIntosh.

You don’t expect her to get 17 points. They attacked us, we didn’t play very good defense on her. Bonnie (Henricksen’s) a good coach, she puts them in the position to capitalize.”

Riddle blocked a career-high five shots.

But after the game in the press conference, emotions got the best of Riddle and Savant as Savant went to the microphone.

“It’s hard because you’ve put a lot of effort into it,” Savant said as tears welled her eyes. “Sweat, and tears, apparently. It’s just really hard. Because I love the girls and all the coaches, and I know it’s going to be different.”

The Tigers will start the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City on Tuesday as the 10th seed. They will face No. 7-seeded Texas (17-13, 6-10) in the first round at 6 p.m. at the Cox Convention Center.

“We want to get to the NCAA tournament, so we know we’ve got to win it,” Stein said. “ We don’t have anything to lose right now, so. These seven seniors want to go.”