Bills resilient, but in the end, cannot measure up to towering Tigers

University of Missouri forwards BreAnna Brock, Liene Priede and Christine Flores would measure a whopping 18-feet-3-inches, if stacked on top of each other. This amount of sheer height was just too much for the Billikens in their matchup with the Tigers on Wednesday, Nov. 16. Brock, Priede and Flores combined to score 46 of Mizzou’s (3-0) points in their 68-56 defeat of Saint Louis University (1-2).

SLU Head Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller knew this height advantage would be tough to overcome heading into their game with a Big XII Conference opponent, but exited Chaiftetz Arena proud that her players were not phased or intimidated in the Show-me State showdown.

“I’m really proud that our players never quit,” Gray-Miller said. “We were outsized at every position, but we out-rebounded them… That’s huge and that’s what I’m going to focus on– not the 12-point loss, but all the little things that we did.”

SLU held a 53-34 edge in the rebounding column, but shot a mere 25.4 percent from the field and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half. But the Bills eventually clawed their way back to within four points of the Tiger’s lead, with 8:02 remaining in the second stanza.

The Billikens were led by sophomore forward Lorreal Jones. Jones managed to pour in a career and team-high 19 points, in spite of the imposing Mizzou trio of towers defending her all evening.

Next up for the Bills is a date with the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago on Friday, Nov. 18. The Bills will need to extinguish the Flames in order to climb back to .500 on the season.  The Flames (2-0) have burned up their competition of this season, scorching past Southeast Missouri State and Drake University.

Senior and St. Louis-native Jasmine Bailey carries the torch for the Flames. Bailey has been red-hot as of late, registering a career-high 30 points and a perfect 3-3 shooting performance from beyond the 3-point line against SEMO.

Junior forward Mallory Eggert and senior guard Janisha “Pooh” Geralds both hail from the Chicagoland area, and expect to have a number of family members in the crowd.

“I think we might have more fans than the Flames have there,” Gray-Miller kidded.

It will be a toasty, warm environment at the UIC Pavilion, with all the familial love in the house. Expect the Bills to come out firing against the Flames.