Mizzou women's basketball railroaded by Razorbacks, 77-55
There was snow on the ground outside, but it was colder inside Mizzou Arena.
Missouri held a lead briefly as the team hosted Arkansas on Sunday. A free throw from junior guard Sarah Rose-Smith gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the afternoon at 9-4 with 4:24 left in the first quarter. But the hosts wouldn’t score again for another 11:02. They finished the first period shooting just 2-21 from the field and missed their first seven shots of the second.
Arkansas went on a 15-0 run before senior guard Haley Troup finally broke the seal on the basket. Mizzou was never able to recover, suffering its first SEC loss of the year, 77-55.
“They've had our number for a while now,” head coach Robin Pingeton. “And you know, I thought we were in a really good place going into this game, and so I didn't necessarily see it playing out this way. I think it didn't look like the same Missouri team that we'd seen over the last couple months.”
Troup kept the game from getting out of hand. After her layup, she drilled another two 3-pointers to bring the momentum back to the Tigers’ side. MU trimmed the lead down to single digits with an 8-2 run at the end of the second quarter. But Arkansas junior guard Rylee Langerman sank a triple at the buzzer to push the Razorbacks (16-3, 3-1 SEC) ahead 31-22.
“I think we did get some good looks,” Troup said. “I thought we had some open shots that we missed and then kind of some rushed shots, like Coach P said, maybe out of transition and not the best shot that we could get that early in the shot clock. And you know, anytime your shot's not falling, you have to get it back on defense and I thought we did that. And then, you know, it's just a tough night when you look at the stat sheet.”
Pingeton liked the resiliency that her team showed. Senior forward Haley Frank stole the ball and finished off the fast break with the first possession of the third quarter. Arkansas responded with an 8-0 run.
Mizzou used a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 49-38 at the end of the third quarter. But the visitors sank another buzzer-beater go back up by 13. The hosts never got any closer.
“I thought defensively, we really did a great job of staying engaged in that first half and most of the second half until they really started to pull away. So I was proud,” Pingeton said. “And so we kept fighting and I just felt, man, if we could hit a couple more shots we could maybe open it up a little bit. But you know, tonight wasn't our night and sometimes that happens. It's that simple. I don't think it's, you know, any deeper than that. They shot the ball real well, we missed some shots. We had some defensive breakdowns that we've got to go back, watch film, break down and get better with. But tonight was their night.”
Troup finished the night with a team-high 24 points to go along with four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Senior guard Lauren Hansen was second on the team with 10 points and five rebounds. Junior point guard Mama Dembele chipped in six points, six assists and three steals.
The team was disappointed with the loss, but still feel like they’ll be able to compete well in conference play.
“I mean, after both of our losses prior to this one, I feel like we responded really well,” Frank said. “So I think it's kind of the same message, you know, we have to be hungry to learn when we go back and watch film and make the adjustments and then just go into Thursday night with even more fire. And like (Pingeton) said, this one really hurts but we can steal one back. There's a lot of opportunities left, it's a long season. We can't get too high or too low but just gotta keep staying to the grind.”
Up next
The Tigers (14-3, 3-1 SEC) will host No. 7 LSU (16-0, 4-0) inside Mizzou Arena on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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