After a long week on the road, the women’s basketball team has a lax week. Saint Louis University went 0-3 against Kansas, University of Missouri-Kansas City and University of Tennessee-Martin.
“We don’t make excuses around here,” women’s basketball coach Shimmy Gray-Miller said. “We’re all tired around here, the girls have finals . and being on the road has been tough for us.”
Gray-Miller said that the Bills have stepped up defensively while on the road but have failed to convert when it counted against their opponents. The team is still without their top scorer, Theresa Lisch, due to a wrist injury.
Gray-Miller is happy, however, with how the team has filled in the gaps with Lisch’s abscence. Sophomore center Amanda Kemezys scored 13 points Sunday, Dec. 2, against Kansas.
“[Kemezy is] producing, and we need that,” Gray-Miller said. “She’s showing us what she’s capable of doing. We need her on the floor.”
Sophomore guard Katie Paganelli is also stepping up for SLU, Gray-Miller said. Against Kansas, Paganelli scored a game-high 17 points and went 9-of-10 from the foul line and led the team with seven rebounds on Sunday. Gray-Miller said Paganelli is “a natural leader, fiery and emotional.”
The team is currently averaging more than 15 offensive rebounds per game, and Kemezys has averaged 10.3 rebounds overall in the last four games.
The Billikens have also allowed an average of 22 free throw shots in the last five matches, while the Bills average 27 free-throw attempts per game.
SLU committed 14 more turnovers than their opponents in the first two games, UT-Martin and UMKC, combined. In the last six games combined, however, SLU had 15 fewer turnovers than its opponents.
The Billikens are set to play the Missouri State Lady Bears tonight. The Bears are 1-6 for the season and are placed 10th in the Missouri Valley Conference last season. Missouri State is averaging 56.5 points per game while allowing an average of 75.8 ppg.
Missouri State is 11-1 against SLU and has won all five meetings in Springfield. The Billikens’ only triumph over the Bears was a 63-48 victory in St. Louis in 1978. That’s a stat that doesn’t worry Gray-Miller.
“This is a team that has had only two winning seasons in the last 20. If I cared about stats like that, I wouldn’t have come here,” Gray-Miller said. “We want to create our own history.”
Missouri State is an offensive team that will require hard defense from the Bills. Gray-Miller said defense is “essential” against the Bears.
“If we’re going to win, it will be because of our defense,” Gray-Miller said.
Before the game, Missouri State will welcome back its 1992 and 2001 NCAA Final Four teams. Gray-Miller expects over 10,000 fans to be present to watch the Bears take on the Bills.
“We’ve rarely played in front of a crowd like that,” Gray-Miller said. “The girls are excited about it, no doubt, but that’s a tough place to play in. The crowd will be loud and we’ll have to be that much more focused.”
Gray-Miller is scheduled to play in the Police Athletic League Charity Celebrity Basketball Game on Saturday, Dec. 8, at SLU’s Bauman-Eberhardt Center.
The game will begin at 2 p.m., and tickets may be purchased for $6 at the door. Other participants in the game include: Tim Ezell of Fox 2; Missouri state Sen. Ryan McKenna; Brian McKenna of KFNS 590 a.m. radio station; and former NFL player Rusty Lisch-father of SLU basketball players Theresa and Kevin Lisch.
