Sports

SEDALIA — As Lauren Harris started to count down, she started to feel better.

It didn’t matter that Kickapoo inched closer; she had the state tournament in her sights.

Of the numerous storylines surrounding Missouri’s final game of the regular season, coach Quin Snyder has only one on his mind.

Today’s game is Senior Day for four Tigers. It will be the final regularly scheduled game in Hearnes Center. Snyder will go for his 100th win, and those are only the highlights.

Through 32 years of basketball at Hearnes Center, Missouri fans have seen some of the best players in the country.

The strength of the Big Eight and Big 12 conferences brought in talented teams every season, and Missouri’s nonconference schedules have brought in many more.

It was one of Kansas’ best teams facing a reeling Missouri squad.

The Jayhawks were No. 1 in the county, 22-0 and 8-0 in Big 12 Conference play. College basketball experts were beginning to wonder whether this Kansas team could become the first to go undefeated since Indiana in 1976.

Upsets, buzzer beaters, wins against Kansas and incredible individual performances define the greatest of the 382 Missouri women’s basketball games played at Hearnes Center.

The most memorable of these games, though, is most remembered not for the action during the game but for the postgame brawl.

AMES, Iowa — Missouri wrestling coach Brian Smith almost flew out of his chair as he celebrated Kenny Burleson’s Big 12 Conference championship. Smith calmed down when Ben Askren and Jeff Foust won.

Four Missouri wrestlers competed in the conference finals in Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, and three earned titles.

For the first 24 years of its gymnastics program, Missouri never scored at or above 197 points. The Tigers have done it three times in one season.

Missouri scored 197.125 at the Mizzou Invitational on Saturday, defeating Northern Illinois (192.875), Illinois State (191.750) and Centenary (191.400) at this season’s final meet at Hearnes Center.

As a numbers game, basketball traditionally favors the team with more points, more rebounds and more precise passes. Of course, having more superstars on the court at once doesn’t hurt, either.

Since 1972, Hearnes Center has set the perfect stage for the best players in Missouri history, but it was clearly a better showcase for double-act talent.

Depth has given Missouri a seasoned flavor.

The Tigers are benefiting from tough competition for lineup spots, competition that allows coaches to rest key contributors without lowering scores, which increases team confidence.

In the 30-year history of Missouri women’s basketball, 159 players donned the Tigers’ home white uniforms at Hearnes Center.

Condensing those players to a list of the five greatest players in Missouri history is no easy task, but those on the all-time Missouri team tout resumes that separate them from the rest.

Mike Davis, the Columbia College women’s basketball coach, said his team usually builds momentum slowly and eventually wears down its opponent. His theory also applies to the Cougars’ season.

The Cougars beat Hannibal-LaGrange 84-61 in the second round of the American Midwest Conference Tournament on Friday at The Arena of Southwell Complex.

SEDALIA –  Jodi Bolerjack did more than lead Hickman to victory Saturday.

She outscored the other team in the first half.

Some players just knew how to win on the road.

Opposing women’s basketball teams have had little success at Hearnes Center, winning 102 of 382 games in Columbia. Although their teams might not have always won, five players have always found a way to hurt Missouri at Hearnes Center.

Erica Petersen didn’t think she would play this weekend, let alone close out a pair of wins in a softball doubleheader.

Petersen, a freshman pitcher for Missouri, has been on antibiotics for the past week to treat strep throat.

After Saturday’s match against Oklahoma, Missouri tennis coach Blake Starkey said he knows why some coaches develop ulcers and lose their hair.

The Tigers lost 5-2 to the Sooners at Green Tennis Center in a Big 12 Conference match, but Oklahoma won two singles matches in third-set tiebreaks that could have swung the match to Missouri.

Mike Davis, the Columbia College women’s basketball coach, said his team usually builds momentum slowly and eventually wears down its opponent. His theory also applies to the Cougars’ season.

The Cougars beat Hannibal-LaGrange 84-61 in the second round of the American Midwest Conference Tournament on Friday at The Arena of Southwell Complex.

Great shooting and hustle have helped the Columbia College men’s basketball team ascend to national prominence this season, but Missouri Baptist used the Cougars’ successful formula against them Thursday night.

The Spartans beat the Cougars 84-73 and handed Columbia College its first loss at The Arena of Southwell Complex. The Cougars and Spartans are tied for the American Midwest Conference lead.

Missouri coach Brian Smith said he is confident his wrestling team can beat the best teams in the nation. To win the Big 12 Conference Tournament, it’s going to have to.

Smith said he thinks this season’s Big 12 Tournament could be the toughest to date. The five teams in the conference will meet Saturday at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum.

Four years ago, Missouri gymnastics was a weak program that had competed in one regional meet since 1994.

This season, behind a strong senior class entering its final home meet, the No. 18 Tigers are a threat to post a strong regional performance and could finish high enough to qualify for the national finals for the first time since 1981.

LUBBOCK, Texas – Despite all of Missouri’s maturation, Wednesday’s game at Texas Tech, in some ways, resembled the losing pattern of late December.

In their 87-76 loss at the United Spirit Arena, the Tigers committed 16 turnovers. Those turnovers allowed Texas Tech to stay with the Tigers and eventually take control. The Red Raiders turned the Tigers’ turnovers into 27 points.