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Junior guard Ashton Judd had to pause as the tears she had been trying to hold back finally broke through.

“She kind of bet on me throughout high school and nobody else did, she was able to give me the opportunity to come play here and just, you know, we’ve been through a lot throughout the past three years,” Judd said about coach Robin Pingeton as the tears broke through and she accepted a hug from the mentor she committed to and played for the past three years. “I hate that this was the effort and just, like, how it ended in this arena for her because I think she deserves a lot more.”

The Missouri Tigers’ ending the regular season with a 100-59 loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday wasn’t much of a story.

Vanderbilt took a 15-0 run into halftime and never looked back as it kept building the lead in the second half.

But instead of the court, most people were focused on the bench as 15-year head coach Pingeton coached her final game at Mizzou Arena and said goodbye to her final regular season with the Tigers.

“I was really trying to keep (the emotions) in check and make today about our seniors,” Pingeton said. “I think that’s just so important. This time goes by so fast in their lives and this is a day that was, you know, to celebrate them. … But I just have a heart filled with gratitude. I think it’s really cool when you love something so much and you’re so blessed that it’s hard to say goodbye to it.”

The game, like much of the end of Pingeton’s tenure, didn’t go the way she hoped. Which took away some of the fun as Pingeton watched a tribute video attempting to cover her long tenure at Mizzou.

“I’ll be honest with you, I am still a really bad loser,” Pingeton said with a laugh. “And so I had to, like, try to recalibrate to enjoy the moment because I knew it was probably going to be a pretty cool video. But I was just a little frustrated with the outcome of this game and you know, just for our seniors.”

And though fans will likely remember that Pingeton’s time with the Tigers ended with six straight years of not going to the NCAA Tournament, the players whose lives she affected will remember something else.

“I’ve learned so much from Coach P,” Sophomore guard Grace Slaughter said. “She has been, you know, the person that I’ve committed to play for. So just coming here and getting to have this time with her has been super special. She’s a woman I look up to for so many reasons, so I’m just super thankful to have had these years. You know, this isn’t how we wanted it to go, but I just feel blessed to have her in my life and I know whatever happens at the end of the season, this relationship will continue.”

Sunday’s game started with Pingeton trying to celebrate her seniors, four players who all joined the Tigers as transfers, but still left a lasting impression on the coach.

“I’ve been part of a lot of senior days over the years,” Pingeton said. “And I always feel like they can go one of two ways. They can go really, really well based on the emotions that you know, go into it. Or, you know, you can just find yourself in this, I don’t know, just an emotional struggle to really get going. Unfortunately, we were part of that today.”

De’Myla Brown, Laniah Randle, Angelique Ngalakulondi, Nyah Wilson and Judd got the nod on senior day and kept the Tigers involved early, but Vanderbilt began to pull away with a 12-0 run that took the game from a 5-2 Missouri advantage to a 14-5 Vanderbilt lead.

“Each senior is just so unique and brings something different, you know, to the group,” Slaughter said. “And I think it’s been so much fun, you know, multiple of them are transfers and just knowing that this was the place that they chose to spend their last year, I think was super special.”

The Commodores took a 23-14 lead into the second quarter, then pulled away with a run through the final five minutes to take a 44-26 lead into halftime.

Vanderbilt kept up the pressure and led 74-42 going to the fourth quarter.

Brown led Missouri with 16 points to go with three assists and three rebounds, while Randle had 10 points and three rebounds.

Missouri outrebounded Vanderbilt 37-31, but the Tigers committed 24 turnovers that allowed Vanderbilt to score 33 points.

The Tigers shot 22-of-53 (40.7 percent) overall, 7-of-20 (35 percent) from 3 and 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Tigers finished the regular season with a record of 14-17 overall and 3-13 in SEC play. They will begin the SEC Tournament on Wednesday as the No. 15 seed playing No. 10 Mississippi State at 5 p.m. That matchup’s winner will play No. 7 Ole Miss on Thursday.

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