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For the first 20 minutes, the Missouri Tigers were up to the task of keeping up with the No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners.

But the Tigers fell apart in the third quarter and the Sooners pulled away for a 82-66 win at Mizzou Arena on Sunday.

“In that third quarter, they came out with a lot more physicality and threw the first punch,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “... Kind of got us on our heels, became pretty disruptive offensively.”

As they did when the teams matched up in Norman, OK, earlier this year, the Sooners opened with a Payton Verhulst 3, but this time the Tigers responded with mid-range jumpers from Averi Kroenke and Laniah Randle to take an early lead.

The teams swapped the lead three times in the first quarter and tied at eight, 11, 13 and 15 before Oklahoma took a 17-15 lead into the first break.

“I felt like we were able to run our sets pretty affectively, obviously, really good shot selection," Pingeton said. “And kids knocking down shots. At the end, had some tough shots in there, too.”

A Randle layup tied the game at 17 early in the second quarter, then Ashton Judd, who came off the bench, hit a 3 to put the Tigers up 20-17 with 8:37 left before halftime. Judd’s shot came as Nyah Wilson flipped her the ball late in the shot clock as she had to catch and shoot quickly from the right wing.

“It was just a little bit of a hiccup on her part,” Pingeton said of having Judd come off the bench. “Team rules, nothing big. It just happens, … nothing to write home about.”

After Oklahoma tied the game at 20, a De’Myla Brown 3 started a 9-2 Tiger run, ending with a Grace Slaughter 3 that put the Tigers up 29-22 with 7:15 left before halftime.

The Tigers extended as far as a 40-31 lead with 2:15 left after Randle connected on an and-1 layup.

But Missouri was outscored 51-26 through the rest of the game.

“That was a heck of a quarter,” Pingeton said. “I thought ball security was pretty solid at that point, too. My two big takeaways honestly, is the points they got off second-chance opportunities, I think there’s a pretty big discrepancy with that. And then, like I said, just overall ability to run offensively effectively in that third quarter.”

Oklahoma led the effort for second-chance points 19-1 as the Sooners brought down 15 offensive rebounds to the Tigers’ seven. That included an 8-0 advantage in second-chance points in the second half.

Oklahoma also led the overall rebounding battle 36-23.

After Missouri led by nine with 2:15 left before halftime, the Sooners cut the lead all the way to two points before Missouri took a 44-40 lead into the break.

Oklahoma quickly came back to tie at 45 with 7:05 left in the third quarter, then bulldozed its way to a 65-54 lead heading into the fourth.

The quarter ended with Angelique Ngalakulondi getting called for an intentional foul with 2 seconds left that gave Oklahoma an extra shot that fell offline.

“I felt like, once Angie got the intentional, I felt like it kind of knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit,” Pingeton said.

Missouri never got back within eight points in the fourth quarter as Oklahoma extended as far as a 20-point lead with 4:29 left to play.

Missouri shot 25-of-50 (50 percent) from the field, 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from 3 and 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from the free-throw line.

Oklahoma shot 28-of-59 (47.5 percent) overall, 9-of-25 (36 percent) from beyond the arc and 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the charity stripe.

Judd led the Tigers with 13 points to go with three rebounds, while Slaughter had 12 points and three boards and Randle had 12 points and five rebounds.

Missouri (13-14, 2-10 SEC) will host Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

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