 Billikens Tough Against Wyoming in Close Loss
Nov. 18, 2007
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis pushed the defending WNIT champions to the brink, but Wyoming held off the Billikens' late charge and escaped the Bauman-Eberhardt Center with a 61-57 non-conference victory on Sunday. The Bills (0-3) were in trouble at the five-minute mark, trailing 52-40 following an 8-0 Wyoming run. The Cowgirls held a 54-43 advantage with 3:24 to play. Katie Paganelli, who led SLU with 16 points, made the back end of a two-shot foul and then drilled a 3-pointer following a Wyoming turnover. Moments later, Jackie Gilbert converted another Cowgirl miscue into a basket with a driving layup, and suddenly the Billikens trailed just 54-49 with 2:09 left. Justyna Podziemska, who tied for game-high scoring honors with 18 points, momentarily slowed SLU's charge by driving the baseline for a layup. Lauren Woods responded with a conventional 3-point play to narrow the Wyoming lead to four, then Gilbert was fouled following a Cowgirl turnover and netted both free throws to make it a 56-54 game with 51 seconds remaining. Megan McGuffey's basket on Wyoming's next possession gave the visitors a little breathing room. An equally important play happened for the Cowgirls on the defensive end seconds later when Dominique Sisk blocked a shot, retrieved the rebound and was fouled with 15 seconds left. Sisk made just one of two from the line, however, and a Gilbert triple with nine seconds remaining kept the SLU hopes alive. But Jodi Bolerjack calmly sank two free throws to provide the final margin. Cold shooting prevailed in a first half that ended with the Bills on top 26-24. Wyoming (3-0) was just 8-of-29 (27.6 percent), including 0-of-9 from beyond the arc, while Saint Louis was slightly better at 7-of-19 (36.8 percent).
After Wyoming scored the first four points, Saint Louis assembled a 9-2 run that was punctuated by Gilbert's 3-pointer. The Cowgirls regained the edge at 10-9, but two Maggie Hennegan free throws at the 10:31 mark gave the Billikens a lead they would keep the rest of the half. Saint Louis expanded the margin to six points on three occasions, the last time being a 26-20 advantage with 1:27 to go in the opening period. Aubrey Vandiver scored the final four points of the first half to slice the SLU lead to a deuce at the break. Hanna Zavecz scored eight of her 18 points during a 13-1 run that gave the Cowgirls a 37-27 cushion just slightly over five minutes into the second half. The Billikens managed to keep the deficit from becoming larger, though, and when Paganelli drilled a 3-pointer and followed with two free throws, Wyoming led just 44-40 with 7:40 left. Gilbert scored 12 points, tying her career best, and Hennegan added 11 points while tying for game-high rebounding honors with eight boards. Amy Klotz chipped in seven points and five rebounds off the bench. Zavecz and Podziemska collected eight and seven rebounds, respectively, to lead Wyoming to a 38-26 triumph on the glass. Vandiver tallied 10 points and seven rebounds. The Billikens hit the road for their final game before the Thanksgiving break, traveling to Nashville on Tuesday to take on Tennessee State. Game time is 7 p.m. (CT). |
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