The Saint Louis University women's basketball team suffered their first loss in exhibition play last Friday, Nov. 12, as they fell to Missouri-Rolla 80-69. The Bills put in a good showing throughout most of the game, but the Miners went on a 9-0 run to put them up 75-65 with just over three minutes to play. The Bills were unable to regain the lead and pull off the win against the Miners.
"We at least were able to work together and had lots of energy," freshman Mia Johnson said. "We had a lot of chemistry and the team is starting to come together. We had really good communication for long stretches; we just need to have more consistency."
The Bills came out scoring the first points of the game with a jump shot from Marquita McFarland. Defenisvely, the Bills forced two shot-clock violations within four minutes of each other. The Miners then fought back with a basket of their own and the lead juggled back and forth until the nine-minute mark.
The Bills kept the lead, pulling ahead by six points at one point. That would be the biggest Billiken lead of the night as the Miners fought back and tied the game, 24-24, with 6:26 left in the half. Johnson, hit two threes in a row to put the Bills back in the lead.
"We saw some good things out of the team, like the shot clock violations, drawing a charge and taking some good shots," coach Jill Pizzotti said. "We just need to see it on a more consistent basis."
With the time ticking down, it looked like the Bills would go into the locker room with a three-point lead, but the Miners hit a last-second shot to pull within one at the half, 37-36. The Bills began play in the second half by turnover an in-bound pass, summing up how the rest of the game would go for the Bills.
"We need to work on lots of little things and be more aware, like boxing out and eliminating turnovers," Johnson said. "We need to feel the urgency to play defense, and we need that to be able to beat teams."
After that the Bills would come within eight points, but could not pull any closer, losing the game 80-69. "We need to work more on guarding and the importance of it," coach Pizzotti said.
"We need to play hard and together for the full 40 minutes and understand the importance of every possession we have."
The Miners had four players scoring in double digits: Emily McCord scoring 16, Jamie Forsberg with 14, Andrea Durante with 12 and Nicole Dierking with 11.
The Bills had three players score with double digits. Johnson was a standout for the Bills, scoring 24 points including five three-pointers.
"Everyone will have their nights where they will play well," Johnson said. "Every night it could be someone different who is scoring a lot of points. With more people scoring we will be more of an offensive threat." Yanique Javois scored 14 while McFarland had 12 and pulled down eight rebounds. The Bills outshot the Miners in the first half 48.1 percent to 45.2 percent. The second half was a different story, as the Miners shot 50 percent from the floor while the Bills only shot 35.7 percent. The Bills did outshoot the Miners in free throws with 66.7, percent to the Miners 63.6 percent.The Billikens' regular-season opener is this Friday, Nov. 19, against Youngstown State at 7 p.m. in the Bauman-Eberhardt Center on campus.
"We are really excited for the season to start," Johnson said. "For most of us this is new because we have never played college ball before, but we have had good practices and we are going to take it and run with it."
