The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team outlasted the St. Louis Goldstars in the Billikens’ first exhibition game of the 2002-2003 season with a final score of 76-70. At one point the Billikens led by 13 points, but the St. Louis Goldstars played hard, making the Bills work for their first win.
“These games are good for the kids to just put on a uniform and play against another team,” said coach Jill Pizzotti.
The game started off with a quick basket by the Goldstars’ Yen Quach, only 16 seconds into the game. The Bills responded by scoring seven straight points. However, that would not stop the Goldstars, who never let the Bills get too far ahead of them.
The Billikens were called for seven fouls in the first nine minutes, which put the Goldstars in the bonus halfway through the first half. Star Jackson had to sit out most of the first half for two quick fouls she received with 11 minutes left in the half. The Goldstars had 14 free throw attempts compared to the Bills’ five chances. The Goldstars’ 71 percent freethrow shooting kept the Billikens from building the lead to more than 13 in the half.
“When we get a lead, we need to go harder; we need to take our 10- point lead and extend it into the 20s,” Pizzotti said. “The last thing we need to do is relax.”
Senior guard Harmonie King made a beautiful cut to the basket, scoring the final points in the first half. The Billikens went to the locker room with a lead of 40-34.
The second half started with the Billikens getting the first basket from a lay-up by Angie Lewis. The Goldstars got their first basket three minutes into the half with a lay-up by Carolyn Weirick.
The Billikens led most of the second half until the Goldstars were able to tie the game at 57 apiece with eight minutes remaining. Not wanting to lose the lead, Jackson saw a chance to put the Bills ahead. Six-foot-one-inch Amie Van Deurzen was guarded by the shortest Goldstar, Quach, so Jackson took advantage of the mismatch and passed the ball to Van Deurzen, who made the easy basket and regained the lead.
The Bills soon lost the lead with 4:15 left in the game when the Goldstars’ Quach scored a basket, followed quickly by another to make the score 65-15. King then scored a big three-pointer for the Bills, cutting the lead to a single point.
The Goldstars’ Weirick scored another bucket to put them up by three with three minutes left.
When the Billikens got the ball back Lewis got a big offensive rebound and put it back up and made the shot keeping the Bills within one.
“We did a good job of rebounding and getting second chances at the end,” Lewis said.
On their next possession, guard Jana Haywood scored two points and drew the foul. The Bills were once again in the lead 68-67.
During their next possession, Jackson was fouled while taking a three-pointer, making only one of her foul shots, but still stretching the lead to 72-67 with just over two minutes left.
In the last two minutes of the game, the only points the Bills let the Goldstars score were three foul shots. The Bills were able to score twice more, once with Lewis putting an offensive rebound, making the basket, and Jackson scoring the final points of the game, clinching the win.
“We did well at getting the ball inside and Angie was shooting well tonight,” Pizzotti said. Lewis for the Bills made nine out of her 10 shots, scoring 18 points, and Haywood made seven shots scoring 14 points.
“I think this game definitely showed us what we need to work on,” Lewis said. “We have the potential to be a really good team.”
