Perkins comes back, steps up for MU

MyEsha Perkins went from the doghouse to the penthouse in a hurry.

Not only did Perkins come off a two-game suspension Saturday, the Missouri senior guard earned her first start and scored 15 in the Tigers’ 76-49 frolic past Kansas University in Allen Fieldhouse.

“Even with the suspension she came and played hard in practice,” MU coach Cindy Stein said about why she started Perkins. “She’d already been punished, and she needed to be rewarded for what she’s done for us.”

Perkins’ 15 points were one off her career high and 15 more than she scored while playing 20 minutes two weeks ago when KU stunned the Tigers, 55-52, in Columbia, Mo.

Perkins had been saddled with the stiffest penalty for the well-publicized postgame fracas after that KU victory. While some players on both sides were reprimanded and others were hit with one-game suspensions, Perkins was forced to sit out two games.

Still, Perkins’ presence in the starting lineup may not have been as important as the fast start by Evan Unrau, another senior, who scored nine of the Tigers’ first 14 points and finished with a game-high 19.

“I thought I had a lot more looks than I had been getting,” Unrau said about her hot early shooting.

Missouri bolted to a 33-20 halftime lead, but Kansas mounted a second-half comeback and closed to within six at one point. Then, with just under 12 minutes remaining, KU’s 6-foot-5 Tamara Ransburg fouled out, and the Tigers blew the Jayhawks away.

“Obviously, we pitched the ball inside real quick,” Stein said. “Not having her (Ransburg) in there left a little bit more of a hole.”

Missouri wound up with 21 offensive rebounds, at least half of them after Ransburg fouled out, and outscored KU 19-6 on second-chance points to post its first Big 12 Conference win in five starts.

“We played with energy and excitement,” Stein said. “We needed to get back on track, and we played today like we’re capable of playing.”

Following that fracas in Columbia, KU coach Marian Washington had complained about how poorly the Jayhawks had been treated in the Hearnes Center, saying the band spat on them and a fan confronted one of the KU players in the tunnel to the dressing area.

In an apparent reference to Washington’s comments, Stein made it a point to say: “We’ve been treated extremely well in Lawrence. People came up to us and no one rubbed our noses in it.”

Of the season-high crowd of 2,877, perhaps as many as 500 were wearing Missouri clothing and cheering for the Tigers. The MU players waved to them in appreciation after they had shaken hands with the Jayhawks.

With the scheduled rematch of the Border War occurring just two weeks after the incident in Columbia, it was inevitable Saturday’s game would be played under a microscope, yet Stein stressed she felt no uneasiness about another potential outbreak.

“I wasn’t worried about our team,” the MU coach said, “and I wasn’t worried about KU’s team. Sometimes, though, there are fanatics you can’t control.”