Frank, Mizzou rally to beat Texas A&M
It was an ugly start to the second quarter for Missouri women’s basketball. Six minutes in, the Tigers still hadn’t scored. With 3:55 remaining in the half, Hayley Frank stepped to the free throw line.
It seemed insignificant at the time, But the junior knocked down both free throws to give the Tigers their first points of the quarter.
Then she hit a 3.
Then she hit another.
Within a couple minutes, Missouri had scored 12 unanswered points — Frank with eight of them — and the Tigers headed into the locker room trailing by two. They had trailed by as many as 11 in the quarter.
The end to the first half carried over into the second, a half in which the Tigers scored 49 points on 15-30 shooting en route to a 78-69 victory against Texas A&M.
“I was proud of the first half, of how we got down and were able to respond and make it a close game going into halftime,” Frank said. “[We] really locked down the second half and took pride in our defense and that’s what got us going.”
Frank didn’t start particularly hot from the floor. After connecting on her first attempt, she missed her next five. It was those two threes as part of Missouri’s run that really got her going.
“I feel like I started slow, but then our guards, Mama [Dembele] especially, was able to attack and just kick for some really rhythm threes,” Frank said. “I just tried to stay confident even though it wasn’t falling at first and just trusting the work that I’d put in.”
Frank’s pinpoint shooting continued through the second half, and it needed to. The Aggies shot the ball quite well — 53.6% from the field in the second half. The main difference between the two teams was how each got its points. The Aggies made just four threes in the second half. Missouri made 10.
“It’s hard when we’re trading threes for twos,” Texas A&M guard Destiny Pitts said after the game.
Missouri shot the roof off of Mizzou Arena, especially from beyond the arc. The Tigers made 16 threes on 48.5% shooting. Frank had seven of them. In the second half, they scored on every other shot they attempted from the field.
“I thought we got some really good looks in transition,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “They’re shooting it at such a high percentage, and, you know, I thought we had for the most part really good shot selection. Whatever it was gonna take for our team to come out with a win. I think that was the mindset of these players.”
Frank scored 17 second-half points on 5-7 shooting. She finished the game with 28 points and and recorded eight rebounds and a pair of assists. The more impressive stat may not even have been her point total; Frank scored with remarkable efficiency, shooting 8-16 from the field, 7-14 from three.
Entering this game, Missouri ranked first in the SEC in field goal percentage (47.1%) and second in three-point field goal percentage (39.2%).
Aijha Blackwell recorded her 15th double-double of the season. The SEC’s leading rebounder raised her season average with 15 boards and added 10 points.
The Tigers move to 15-5 on the season, 4-3 in SEC play and an impressive 10-1 at home.
Missouri travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State on Thursday. The Tigers then head to Tuscaloosa a week from today to play Alabama before returning back home on Feb. 3 to face Ole Miss.
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