The Missouri Tigers made a valiant effort to come back from a 10-point deficit in the final nine minutes Sunday, but fell just short as they dropped a 68-66 game against the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford, Ms.
A Starr Jacobs layup gave the Rebels a 61-51 lead with 9:41 left to play, then the Tigers began their comeback attempt.
Ashton Judd hit a layup following an Angelique Ngalakulondi offensive rebound, then Ngalakulondi used a Judd assist for a layup to bring the Tigers within six.
Ole Miss stopped the shto run with a jumper, but Ngalakulondi used an Averi Kroenke assist to get it moving again with 7:16 left to play.
After trading baskets, the Tigers finally got within five when Judd hit a free throw with 2:27 left to make it 67-62, then Judd added a layup before Nyah Wilson turned an Ole Miss turnover into an assist to Grace Slaughter for a layup to bring the Tigers within 67-66 with 1:13 left.
But the bid would get no closer as the Tigers missed two layups with 17 and 13 seconds left, then had to foul to stay in it. Ole Miss missed four consecutive free throws, but got offensive boards following both opportuntieis, then finally Kirsten Deans hit one with 5 seconds left to create the final margin.
The Tigers had a layup opportunity at the buzzer, but Laniah Randle’s attempt was off the mark.
Slaughter led the Tigers with 18 points to go with three rebounds, while Judd had 17 points, five assists, three boards and three steals. Randle added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Ngalakulondi had 10 points and seven boards.
The Tigers played a very tight rotation, with only seven players in the game for 10 or more minutes and Slaughter, Judd and Randle all playing at least 36. Ngalakulondi played 28, Wilson played 21 and Tilda Sjokvist played 12 while Abbey Screacke played 11.
Missouri shot 25-of-48 (52.1 percent) overall, 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) from beyond the arc and 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Rebels won the rebounding battle 35-32, and had an 18-11 lead in second-chance points, a 20-14 lead in points off turnovers and a 44-32 lead in points in the paint.
Early on, the teams went back and forth, tying five times in the first quarter and another time in the second.
The teams went into the first break knotted at 18, then Missouri took its biggest lead of the day into halftime at 40-30 after winning the final four minutes 11-2 going into halftime.
But a poor third quarter killed the Tigers once again as Ole Miss stormed back to take a 44-43 lead with 6:11 left in the segment and used a 12-0 run to build a 49-43 lead with 5:08 left.
The Rebels led 59-51 going into the fourth.
Missouri (13-16, 2-12 SEC) will finish out the regular season this week with a matchup at Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. Thursday and a home matchup with Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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