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Record crowd sees a huge win

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With 1.4 seconds left in the game, Mizzou Arena was deafening.

Tennessee's Rennia Davis stepped to the free throw line to shoot three free throws after Missouri forward Jordan Frericks had fouled her beyond the arc with Missouri up 75-72.

But 11,092 fans — a new attendance record in Missouri women’s basketball history — made sure that the 72 percent free-throw shooter would only make 33 percent of those shots from the charity stripe.

After missing the first, Davis made the second and intentionally missed the third. Amber Smith secured the rebound and Sophie Cunningham made two free throws to secure a 77-73 win for the Tigers.

Robin Pingeton and her players gave credit to their fans after the No. 13 Tigers (22-5, 10-4 SEC) defeated the No. 11 Volunteers (21-6, 9-5). It was only the second time Missouri has beaten Tennessee — the last was in 2013.

“The support we had today made it really special,” Pingeton said. “We want them, and we need them there, and I’ve seen what they’ve been able to do for the men’s team being that sixth man. There’s so much power in that kind of environment.”

So much power that Pingeton herself got emotional as she walked out of the tunnel before the start of the game to see history sitting in the arena.

“The journey is pretty incredible,” she said. “There are hard days early on. There are hard days now — it doesn’t stop. But to see the growth of our program and the support is really special.”

As for Cunningham and Cierra Porter, two players who grew up in Columbia watching Missouri women’s basketball, making history Sunday afternoon was a dream come true.

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Robin Pingeton's team is in line to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament
Robin Pingeton's team is in line to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament (Jordan Kodner)

Right before the game, Cunningham realized she was a little nervous. Thirty-two points later, nerves might seem a little crazy, but running out of the tunnel in front of 11,000 fans made Cunningham a little emotional too.

“This is kind of why me and CP came here, so we get this environment, “ Cunningham said. “We don’t really get to take a step back and appreciate everything that this team and our coaches have done, but this is huge today.”

The fans showed up on Sunday afternoon, but so did the Tigers against a tough and athletic Tennessee team. This was a huge win for the SEC standings: Missouri sits at fourth behind LSU, which has the same conference record but a win over Missouri early in January. It was also huge for seedings in the SEC Tournament in Nashville at the end of the month — the first four seeds get a double-bye to start the tournament.

Missouri got off to a quick start and led by as much as 15 in the first half. Cunningham grabbed a steal and a buried a layup to finish the second quarter with 18 points.

This game, however, was far from over. After breaking through Tennessee’s press with ease in the first half, the Tigers struggled to inbound the ball in the second. Mercedes Russell got her first basket of the game off of an uncontested offensive rebound and clean finish. The 6-foot-6 center would continue to give the Tigers trouble, especially with Porter in foul trouble in the third quarter.

Turnovers also continued to be a problem for the Tigers. They only had four in the first half, but eight in the third quarter. It was surprising that Missouri was still leading 58-56 at the end of the quarter; Tennessee had 12 points off of the turnovers it forced.

“I think that’s one thing as a team we just always have that third quarter slump, but we’ll get it down this year — we have to,” Cunningham said. “But we weathered the storm. That’s all you can do in those situations is take a deep breath, and we got it.”

Cunningham scored 32 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists
Cunningham scored 32 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists (Jordan Kodner)

Cunningham was the captain that led Missouri through the third quarter storm. With the game tied, she buried a three-pointer, a layup and four free throws to help grow Missouri’s lead with less than two minutes to go in the game.

“She plays every possession all out,” Tennessee head coach Holly Warlick said. “She loves the game, and you can tell. She was a handful for us, and we have to do a better job on that.”

Cunningham ended Sunday with 32 points, five rebounds and five assists. Frericks added 16 points of her own, and after seven rebounds today, the redshirt senior is just five boards away from 1,000 in her career.

The last five seconds of the game were stop and go because of fouls, but the free throw difference eventually won the game. The Tigers made 19-of-22, while the Lady Vols’ final trip to the line with less than two seconds left sealed the deal.

“Any other time, I would have said (Davis is) gonna hit all three of them,” Warlick said. “But that didn’t lose us the basketball game.”

Home-court advantage is real, though, Tennessee senior Jaime Nared said. It makes it hard to call plays, especially at the end of games when the crowd was as into the game as Missouri fans were Sunday.

Nared, who led Tennessee with 25 points, said that she loves that people are supporting women’s basketball the way they did today in Missouri’s annual Play4Kay Kay Yow Cancer Fund game advocating breast cancer awareness.

Despite the loss for Tennessee, Warlick commended the crowd, too. It did play a factor, especially with 1.4 seconds to go. Her team knew it was going to be a big game, but she loves big games.

“I wouldn’t want to come here and play in front of 100 people,” Warlick said. “It speaks volumes for women’s basketball and this program. Women’s basketball — those guys were entertained today. It’s exciting. If you give it a chance, it’s exciting.”

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