Tigers hooked in first round

OKLAHOMA CITY— EeTisha Riddle posted up under the basket, furiously pleading to Tiffany Brooks to throw her the ball in the first half of Missouri’s game against Texas on Tuesday night.

She waved her hands and screamed to Brooks who stood beyond the 3-point line. Riddle’s face was contorted with desire for the ball.

But Brooks kept dribbling, ignoring her teammate. The long arms of the Longhorns’ Tiffany Jackson were waiting to reach around Riddle and repel the ball, like she had several times already.

Jackson wasn’t ready to lose a game in the Big 12 Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, so she didn’t.

Texas beat Missouri 70-57 in the first round of the tournament, ending the Tigers’ chance for a conference title and a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Riddle’s pleas for the ball were understandable. In January’s home loss to Texas, Riddle, a senior center, scored a career-high 31 points.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get 31 points again,” Riddle said. “(Texas coach) Jody Conradt, she’s been in a lot of games. She’s a great coach. She’s not going to let me do that again.”

Conradt garnered her 900th career win against Missouri (17-13) and credited the defense of senior Katrina Robinson, who played only eight minutes, for helping to contain Riddle.

“I thought when she came in, Riddle had a lot more difficulty scoring and our team is about defense,” Conradt said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

Like in past games, first-half performance dictated the outcome of the game for the Tigers. The team shot poorly, 38.5 percent, turned the ball over 12 times and allowed Texas more rebounds. The Tigers were down by as much as 23 points in the first half.

Unlike other games, there was no memorable comeback.

Missouri coach Cindy Stein thought she might have had it figured out when she changed the starting lineup for only the third time this season. Stein started point guards Marchele Campbell and Toy Richbow.

“The starters were 5 and 11 in the league, and they weren’t playing very well together,” Stein said. “We had started in holes. It was just a matter of trying to change it up.”

Stein made it clear that sitting her usual senior starters of Brooks and Blair Hardiek was not a demotion.

“When we’ve had great play off the bench, we’ve usually won,” Stein said.

Texas (18-13) wasn’t even led in scoring by Jackson, an All-America candidate. Earnesia Williams had 17 points in her 34 minutes of play. Four other Longhorns scored in double figures.

Coming off the bench wasn’t the only thing not working in Brooks’ favor. With 11:56 remaining in the game, she picked up her fourth foul of the night when she tangled with Jackson over a loose ball.

“It was very frustrating,” Brooks said. “I tried to do the best that I can. It just didn’t go my way tonight as far as fouls. I just didn’t get it started on the offensive end.”

Brooks fouled out less than a minute after returning to the game with 8:46 left. She finished with four points, one of her lowest totals of the season.

“I just told myself I’m going to go all out,” Brooks said. “If I foul out, then that’s what it is. This is our last game if we don’t get picked for the WNIT. I just wanted to leave it all out there.”

Sending Brooks back in to the game with four fouls was a desperation move by Stein, whose red-faced display on the bench gave the team its first technical foul of the season in the second half.

“We needed someone aggressive,” Stein explained. “And she was getting in there, trying to be aggressive, and at that point, you don’t have anything to lose. You gotta play all out.”

For seven Tiger seniors, the season is precariously close to ending.

“I feel we deserve an (W)NIT bid,” Stein said. “NCAA, we don’t deserve it. So we hope that we have that opportunity.”

Riddle was the only Tiger to reach double figures in scoring, with a game-high 20 points. With a lay-up in the second half, Riddle became the 25th Tiger to score more than 1,000 points for her career.