Sports

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.

To reach the NCAA Tournament, Big 12 Conference teams have needed at least nine conference wins.

Because of the Big 12’s increasing parity, this seven-year old pattern might change, and teams with an 8-8 Big 12 record might not have their bubbles burst.

The results of the Missouri women’s basketball team’s first two games at Hearnes Center were by no means signs of things to come.

Losses to Northwest Missouri on Jan. 17, 1975, and Truman State six days later did not follow Missouri’s ideal plan for christening women’s basketball at Hearnes Center.

The Missouri offense looked as solid Sunday as its pitching has all season.

The Tigers’ 12 hits led to a 8-1 victory against Youngstown State at Taylor Stadium and helped them claim their first home series 2-1.

The game had the potential to destroy what had become a strong finish to Missouri’s inconsistent season.

It has been a long time since a defeat to Kansas State could be defined as a good loss, meaning the Tigers had to take advantage of a struggling Wildcats team Saturday in Manhattan. A loss would have ruined everything Missouri had gained by upsetting No. 6 Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

While Missouri set a school record on the balance beam, two of Oklahoma’s gymnasts stumbled off the four-inch wide apparatus to allow the Tigers an upset victory.

As Alisha Robinson’s floor routine music, themes from the movie Gladiator, swelled through Hearnes Center on Sunday, the crowd began to realize that Missouri could steal the meet from Oklahoma.

While the Yankees have A-Rod, the Missouri gymnastics team has A-Rob.

Alisha Robinson has been the leader on the floor for Missouri during its most prolific season. She holds the team’s high scores in vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise and has the distinction of being the team’s all-around competitor.

Megan Kuntze, Columbia College’s leadoff hitter, lined out to the shortstop in her first at bat.

Her next trip to the plate was more productive though, for she doubled to right field.

Forward Jessie Edwards fell to the floor and lay motionless after colliding with a gym wall. Luckily he was not unconscious; he was acting.

Senior Anthony Johnson mockingly rushed to his teammate and checked his pulse. Johnson then dragged Edwards off the court by his ankles. Across the floor, coach Lynn Allen could not keep from laughing.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – It seemed as though the taunts started as soon as the ball was tipped.

Bramlage Coliseum echoed with Kansas State fans’ taunts of “Air ball, air ball” when Jimmy McKinney’s first 3-point attempt fell short. Missouri found the right melody for its sixth-straight win after halftime, beating the Wildcats 79-69 on Saturday in a Big 12 Conference game.

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Contrary to traditional basketball logic, a Rickey Paulding dunk is often worth more than two points.

Any Missouri fan who has witnessed Paulding’s aerial acrobatics during his four seasons in black and gold could point to a handful of ferocious slams from the senior swingman. Although his dunk early in the second half against Kansas State on Saturday afternoon might not be his best, it should definitely be in the discussion.

As Missouri toils to solidify inconsistent performances on the uneven bars, a seasonlong challenge, record scoring on another apparatus has become increasingly dependable.

The Tigers vault so well, Lindsay Davis, who won the Big 12 Conference Championship vault title in 2003 with a 9.9, has trouble breaking into the vault lineup.

JEFFERSON CITY — Having spent most of the game with the basketball in her hands, Hickman senior Lauren Harris was ready to hold something new.

She found it in the form of a Class 5 District 10 championship trophy, which she never let go of after the top-seeded Kewpies’ 69-39 win against second-seed Jefferson City on Saturday at Helias.

During Quin Snyder’s first year as coach of the Missouri men’s basketball team, he went through quite a learning experience.

It wasn’t on the court; it was finding the court.

JEFFERSON CITY — Kaela Rorvig ran all game, but in the fourth quarter the clock did the running for her.

Rorvig led a tenacious defensive effort in Hickman’s 69-39 win against Jefferson City in the Class 5 District 10 title game on Saturday night in Helias.