The Missouri Tigers ran out to an early lead and led by double digits in the second quarter.
But the offense slowed down and the No. 5 Texas Longhorns came back in the second half to beat the Tigers 70-61 in Austin on Thursday.
Laniah Randle gave the Tigers the game’s initial lead with an offensive rebound and putback, starting her 22-point, four-rebound, four-steal day with 9:08 left, then a Grace Slaughter jumper and a Randle layup put the Tigers ahead 8-4 with 6:00 left in the first.
The Tigers would lead the rest of the way through the first quarter, building to a nine-point advantage when Slaughter connected on a 3 with 1:06 left to make it 20-11.
Slaughter ended with 16 points and three rebounds.
The Tigers took a 20-13 lead into the second quarter after shooting 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from the field during the opening 10 minutes.
In the second, a De’Myla Brown 3 extended the Tiger lead to 29-19 with 5:07 left before the break, then the Tigers held their biggest advantage of the night when Randle connected on a traditional three-point play to create a 32-21 lead with 4:21 left.
But Texas began chipping away, using a 10-0 run to get back within 32-31 as the Tigers went scoreless from the 4:21 mark until an Abbey Schreacke 3 with 54 seconds left.
Texas brought itself within 35-33 at the break.
Madison Booker hit a jumper with 8:41 left in the third to tie the game at 35, then Texas took the lead for the first time when Booker added a 3 with 6:26 left to go up 38-35.
Angelique Ngalakulondi scored the Tigers’ first points of the third quarter with a layup at the 5:38 mark, but Texas began to pull away, creating a five-point lead with 4:49 left and a seven-point lead with 1:20 left as Texas took a 52-45 lead into the fourth quarter.
Missouri never fell too far back, staying within single digits throughout the fourth quarter, but also never cut the lead closer than five points as the Longhorns had an answer every time the Tigers scored.
Along with Randle and Slaughter, Ashton Judd had 13 points and four rebounds for Missouri, as the remaining seven Tigers who saw the court scored 10 combined points.
Missouri shot 27-of-60 (45 percent) from the field, 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from 3 and 3-of-5 (60 percent) from the free-throw line.
Texas shot 26-of-53 (49.1 percent) overall, 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from deep and 15-of-18 (83.3 percent) from the line.
Missouri committed 21 fouls to Texas’ 11, the Longhorns won the rebounding battle 38-25 and won the second-chance points 11-4.
The Tigers won the battle for points in the paint 36-28, but Texas had six blocks as the Tigers shot 15-of-28 on layups.
Taylor Jones led Texas with 17 points and six rebounds, Booker added 16 points and six rebounds, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Rori Harmon had six points, six rebounds and 10 assists.
The Longhorns played only eight players, without five playing at least 28 minutes, because four players were out with the flu.
Missouri (12-11, 1-7 SEC) will return home to face Tennessee at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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