Cameron Newbauer’s game plan was to take away Sophie Cunningham and Lauren Aldridge.

They’re the ringleaders, the Florida head coach called Missouri’s leading scorer and Missouri’s most consistent point guard.

He just didn’t expect the Tiger bigs to play the way they did in Missouri’s 66-64 win over the Gators (10-13, 2-8 SEC).

Florida did stick to the game plan; Cunningham finished with 10 points and Aldridge had six. And to Newbauer's credit, the Gators executed the game plan very well.

But Cierra Porter finished with 27 points — 21 of those in the first half — and eight rebounds. Jordan Frericks added 18 of her own — 14 of those in the second half.

“The word for (Frericks) I think is efficient,” Newbauer said. “What we saw on film is how good she is with one or two dribbles to the rim. She doesn’t waste many bounces. Those were the two we wanted to make beat us tonight. And if you look, they had 45 points.”

After sitting out against Ole Miss on Jan. 18 with the flu, Porter played in the last three games sparingly, only scoring nine points combined.

She opened up Thursday night’s game with back-to-back three pointers and a jumper. In the first four minutes, she had all eight of Missouri’s points.

“Kind of been on a little slump,” Porter said. “But my teammates and coaches keep instilling confidence in me and got me back into it.”

One of Missouri’s goals Thursday night was to have an inside presence, something it lacked the past three games against bigger teams and better shot-blockers. Frericks came out of her shell in the fourth quarter, when the inside game finally flourished.

With six minutes left, Cunningham lobbed Frericks a pass at the top of the paint, and Frericks bullied her way to the hoop for a layup.

“First quarter, I might have gotten into my head a little bit and missed a couple,” Frericks said. “But Coach and my team picked me up, so the second half I was able to take it up with confidence and finish.”

After losing to No. 20 Georgia, No. 7 South Carolina and No. 2 Mississippi State, the three-game losing streak is finally over. As with most SEC games, though, it wasn’t easy. Florida led for most of the third quarter until a 6-0 run from Cunningham gave the Tigers the lead.

The win came down to the last 12.1 seconds — Florida was down by two and had the ball.

Missouri (18-5, 6-4) had come up short each of the three games before Thursday night. The Tigers were not going to lose this one.

“No matter what we do, we didn’t want to give up a three,” Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said. “We’re not giving up a three-point play going to the rim, and old-fashioned three, we cannot afford to give up an offensive rebound or give up an and-one. Worst case scenario it’s overtime, but we are not getting beat by a three.”

The Tigers didn’t get beat by a three. Haley Lorenzen’s attempt came up short as the buzzer sounded.

Relief. The game was finally stamped in the much-needed win column.

The uncertainty that Missouri’s defense couldn’t come up in big-time moments washed away with hard press the Tigers had the last six minutes of the game. Florida couldn’t find an open shot and Missouri regained the lead and held it.

The misgivings that Missouri fouls too much every game and gives away easy baskets to its opponents were silenced, just like the whistle was for most of the night. Cunningham and Amber Smith both had two fouls, and Porter and Frericks both had one. The Tigers showed they can actually stay out of foul trouble.

More importantly, the self-doubt that might have crept into Pingeton and her players’ head washed away with the sound of the final buzzer.

“You can say that you just have to keep perspective, but I think it’s hard,” Pingeton said. “Losing’s hard … There’s always that seed in the back of your head that’s a little bit of self-doubt, like, you start feeling a little bit of pressure instead of looking at this next game as an opportunity, you look at it with a little more pressure.”