Saint Louis University women’s basketball coach Jill Pizzotti learned one lesson in last Friday night’s 84-79 exhibition loss to St. Louis Goldstar.
“There’s a lot of work still to do,” said Pizzotti.
The Billikens, with eight freshmen on the roster, were outplayed by St. Louis Goldstar in nearly every facet of the game. Goldstar snagged 11 more rebounds and made 10 more free throws than SLU and shot 54 percent from the field, compared to SLU’s 41 percent.
“We’re trying to go with a lot of different combinations,” Pizzotti said. “At the end, we went with our veterans and one freshman.”
The Billikens fell behind early in the first half and could never recover until the end of the game. Goldstar grabbed a 3-point lead at the 16:20 mark on a 3-pointer by Monica Steinhoff and held the lead from that point on.
Harmonie King trimmed the lead to 31-29 with a 3-point play at the 4:35 mark of the first half. But Goldstar rebuilt their advantage to 46-35 by the end of the half.
At the start of the second half, the Billikens cut the lead to single digits. Then Goldstar went on a 16-5 run to take an 18-point lead with 11:51 left in regulation.
Goldstar had a 17-point lead with 4:26 to play when SLU made its run. The Bills scored on six of their next seven possessions, made the Goldstar lead 79-71.
With the lead at 82-75, SLU had two opportunities to get closer to Goldstar, but Kara Wile turned the ball over, and Mandy Lueking missed an 18-foot jump shot. Goldstar iced the game with two free throws in the final seconds.
“I thought the best thing to take from the night was showing the freshmen that you’re never out of a game,” Pizzotti said.
In particular, two freshmen stood out for SLU. Harmonie King and Melissa Oliver each scored 13 points for the Billikens.
King was active from the outside, while Oliver got her points by driving to the hoop for layups.
Wile had a game-high 11 assists on the night, and Bridget Beckmann chipped in 13 points from the post area.
“Kara Wile did a good job of running the club,” Pizzotti said. “Bridget Beckmann, especially in the second half, really went to work inside.”
But what irked Pizzotti was the missed free throws down the stretch.
“We went four of 10. You can’t do that,” Pizzotti said.
The Billikens play one more exhibition game before starting the regular season against Chicago State on Friday, Nov. 19.
A team composed of players from the National Women’s Basketball League will come to Bauman-Eberhardt Gymnasium tonight at 7 p.m.
