IU loses to Missouri 76-71

Perfect no more.

For the first time this season, the Hoosiers found out what it felt like to lose a game by falling 76-71 to the Missouri Tigers on Sunday.

IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said despite the loss, she saw both positives and negatives from her team.

“I am encouraged by our effort,” Legette-Jack said. “I thought the desire was miraculous, but we have to get smarter.”

The game started ominously for the Hoosiers as they fell into a 30-16 deficit midway through the first half before rallying and taking a 38-36 lead into the locker room.

The Hoosiers continued their strong play in the beginning of the second half and built a 52-43 lead with 13:01 to play in the game.

However, for the remaining 14 minutes, the Tigers were the stronger team and rallied to take a 61-60 lead with a little more than six minutes left.

The game went back and forth from that point before Missouri went ahead for good on a Shakara Jones jumper with 53 seconds to play.

Missouri coach Cindy Stein said she was proud of her team for staying focused until the end since they are gaining knowledge on the fly.

“We have had good starts,” Stein said. “This is a team that is learning how to play hard all the time and fight through adversity.”

One bright spot for the Hoosiers was senior guard Jamie Braun, who had a season-high 20 points.

Braun, however, said she takes little pride in her personal performance when the team doesn’t come out on top.

“It doesn’t really matter because we lost,” Braun said. “I don’t care if I only score two points if we win.”

Other areas that hurt the Hoosiers throughout the game were rebounds and assists. IU was outrebounded 47-34 on the boards and had just seven assists on 25 baskets.

Legette-Jack said IU needs to improve in both categories but particularly on the glass.

“We didn’t do a great job on the boards,” she said. “We need to get better in the rebounding category.”

IU returns to action when it heads to Freeport, Bahamas for the Junkanoo Jam. Its first game in the tournament will be a Thanksgiving contest against No. 12 Virginia.
Legette-Jack said the Hoosiers have to improve moving forward.

“We know that we have to work on some things and we are a young team,” she said. “That is getting better and better every game.”