The Riverwomen were sent up the creek by the Bills in the first
exhibition game of the season.

The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team defeated the
University of Missouri St. Louis 61-56 at the Savvis Center last
Friday.

“For our first game, we did really well. We have lots of new
faces this year, new freshmen and a transfer student, and we are
all getting used to the offense. It’s really complicated, but we
are all giving it our best effort,” sophomore Yanique Javois
said.

The Bills came out strong, as they took the lead, scoring the
first four points of the game. The Riverwomen answered back with
seven points of their own. The game was tied 8-8 at the 6:30 mark.
UMSL grabbed the lead with a foul shot, putting them up by one.

SLU took back the lead when Yanique Javois sank a jumper and
Brittany Artis followed with a jump shot of her own, putting the
Bills up 12-9.

“We have a lot of depth in the guard position, and everyone is
really athletic and loves to play, which is helping us to be
successful,” Javois said.

The Bills kept the lead the rest of the half, with the
Riverwomen only tying once, 16-16, with six minutes left in the
half.

A short jumper from Hayley Leake broke the tie.

To add to the lead going into halftime, Heather King sank a
lay-up that just beat the buzzer, putting the score at the end of
the first half 29-22.

SLU came out of the locker room ready to play and started off
the second half with an 11-2 run in the first five minutes of the
half.

This gave them their biggest lead of the game, 40-24. In the
next five minutes of the game, the Riverwomen went on their own
14-4 run, bringing them within a tally of six, 44-38.

“We made some errors, and we have to have better continuity on
offense,” Javois said.

“We didn’t keep our spacing well, but hopefully that is
something we will work out over the season and in practices.”

The Riverwomen stayed close to the Bills and came within five,
47-42 with eight minutes left in the game.

The Bills tried to build up their lead again with a 7-1 run, but
the Riverwomen kept hanging on.

With 21 seconds left, they fought to within four points of the
Billikens, 59-55.

“We made some costly turnovers and had a few errors,” Javois
said. “We need to work on keeping our composure when we have the
lead and not get rattled.”

SLU made two free-throws and used good defense to keep the lead
and earn their first win of the season.

Mia Johnson led the Bills with 16 points and five rebounds.
Brittany Artis scored 11 points of her own with six rebounds.

The Bills out-shot the Riverwomen 37.9 percent to 34.5
percent.

The Bills next and final exhibition game will be this Friday,
Nov. 12 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bauman-Eberhardt Athletic Center
against Missouri-Rolla.

“We really want people to come out for our games more this
year,” Javois said.

“Overall we have a better team this season, and it would be fun
to have more support from the crowd.”

Exhibition Finale

Who: Missouri-Rolla
When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m.
Where: The Bauman-Eberhardt Center