Sports

Missouri picked the best time to break a streak.

Texas A&M’s defense tried to keep the score low, but it wasn’t enough as the MU women’s basketball team won 61-60 on Wednesday in College Station, Texas, in a Big 12 Conference game.

WASHINGTON, Mo. — Lauren Harris called it slumpy. Kaela Rorvig was at a loss for words.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t the same Hickman team that won the Class 5 District 10 championship. It wasn’t as intense. It wasn’t as crisp. In the end, it didn’t matter.

This is the environment in which Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel wants to develop young players.

Coming off an 8-5 season that included a trip to the Independence Bowl, Pinkel said the atmosphere of the team’s off-season player-development program was significantly improved.

Joann Rutherford’s life is coming full circle.

Rutherford guided the Missouri women’s basketball program from its infancy in 1975 and made it a contender in the Big Eight Conference.

Columbia proved to be as friendly to the Missouri baseball team as the road.

Missouri closed its five-game homestand Wednesday with an 8-2 win against Western Illinois. The Tigers (10-2) finished their first games at Taylor Stadium this season on a four-game winning streak.

WASHINGTON, Mo. — The Kewpies had to take a step back to see the way to the next round of the state playoffs.

Hickman took off its press in the second half and cruised to a 67-44 victory against Francis Howell in the sectional round of the playoffs Wednesday at Borgia High.

Most Missouri basketball fans would make quite a sacrifice to have a courtside seat at Missouri’s final regular-season game at Hearnes Center on Sunday.

The seven-person official scoring crew working at the Missouri and Kansas game will not only have what Mike Nichols calls the “best seats in the house’’ at the scorers’ table, but it also will get paid to be involved in the action.

Players aren’t normally diving for loose balls at halftime, but Columbia College needed an energy boost after a lackadaisical start Tuesday night.

The Cougars beat Harris-Stowe State 91-56 in the first round of the American Midwest Conference women’s basketball tournament at The Arena of Southwell Complex.

MU’s athletic department announced Tuesday that it received a $10 million gift to renovate facilities and fund student scholarships. The gift came from the Kansas City Sports Trust, a group of anonymous donors whose purpose is to support MU’s athletic program.

“This is a great day for the Tigers,” Mike Alden, MU director of athletics, said at a press conference in the Reynolds Alumni Center.

When Missouri visits Texas Tech at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock tonight, it might find something familiar.

If the Tigers squint hard enough, they might see themselves reflected in the Red Raiders. When Texas Tech hosts Missouri at 6:30 p.m., both teams will fight to earn a game that is vital to their postseason hopes.

Late arrivals to Taylor Stadium missed the majority of the offense Tuesday night. Cody Ehlers’ two-run home run in the first inning was the difference as the Tigers defeated Western Illinois 2-1.

With two outs, Ehlers hit a ball to right field that easily cleared the fence and drove in Zane Taylor, who led off with a single. It was Ehlers’ third home run of the season.

Much will be on the line for the Missouri women’s basketball team when it faces Texas A&M tonight in the final regular-season game for both teams.

Tip-off is at 7 at Reed Arena in College-Station, Texas, and a win against the Aggies could help the Tigers improve their seed in next week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament.

Missouri wanted to get it over with early.

The Tigers batted around in a six-run third inning to complete a doubleheader sweep against Oklahoma City on Tuesday at University Field.

Beth Newton won’t have to travel far for her first high school volleyball head-coaching job.

Newton, an assistant at Hickman for the past two years, was named the Rock Bridge coach Tuesday.

The Missouri women’s golf team lost a playoff to Kansas State at the Texas A&M Mo’morial Invitational in College Station.

Both teams finished their final rounds with scores of 909 before the Wildcats won the playoff hole with a birdie.

It’s evident in a foot tapping, a head bobbing, lips moving.

It’s one thing Hickman coach Tonya Mirts has learned in the past four years: Her players love music. She lets them listen to it in the locker room, during practice, on the bus.

After losing four of its top seven starters last year, the Rock Bridge tennis team will have an uncertain roster heading into its final season in the North Central Missouri Conference because the Bruins will become independent next season.

Although most of the starters will be determined after intrasquad match play in practice this month, coach Ben Loeb is confident that senior Jon-Eric Meyer will lead his singles team.

Throughout the 32-year history of Hearnes Center, two teams have visited Columbia and gone on to win the national championship.

During the regular season, few expected either team to be among the nation’s best, but both put it together during a strong March.

On paper, the American Midwest Conference women’s basketball tournament looks like a two-team race.

Columbia College (24-7, 14-0 AMC) and McKendree (Ill.) are the only teams with winning conference records. The Cougars’ 79-75 win at McKendree on Feb. 3 was their lone AMC victory decided by single digits.

Effort in practice never presented a problem.

Through 19 games, though, Missouri’s work in practice erratically appeared in the subsequent game. The team’s confidence wavered as it dropped below .500.