The Missouri women’s basketball season ended on Wednesday afternoon in Greenville, SC. The Tigers lost 66-60 to Florida in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. Mizzou lead 16-13 after a quarter, but the Gators started the second quarter on a 13-0 run and never surrendered the lead.
The loss was Missouri’s 12th straight to end the season and left the Tigers with an 11-19 overall record.
"Just another tough game for us," head coach Robin Pingeton said. "I feel like it's kind of been our story of the season, our ability to win three quarters, just not quite get over that hump."
Hayley Frank, Mizzou’s leading scorer, was held without a point in the first half and attempted just one field goal, a missed layup in the final 30 seconds of the half. Frank is in the top five all-time scorers at Mizzou and surpassed the 2000 point threshold earlier this month, but the Gators had every answer. With Frank a non-factor, the Tigers’ supporting cast simply didn’t have enough to get it done.
Missouri outscored the Gators 17-8 in the third quarter to make things interesting. Entering the fourth it was 50-43 Florida. Mizzou got as close as three at 60-57 with 4:07 to play, but the Tigers were outscored 6-0 in the next 3:47 and fell by nine.
"I came here to be a better person. It's not just all about basketball," Frank said. "I was blessed with some really great teammates, best friend sitting right here (Mama Dembele). Definitely don't know if this is completely it, but if it is, not quite the end that we wanted. I'm just really thankful I got five years to represent my home state."
Ashton Judd had a team-high 17 points for Mizzou and Grace Slaughter chipped in 14. Florida was led by Aliyah Matharu with 14 points and seven rebounds. Frank was held to seven points for Mizzou, but did have a game-high eight rebounds.
The focus will now turn to the future for the Tigers. Frank is gone, as is point guard Mama Dembele. But the main question revolves around head coach Robin Pingeton. She has been at Missouri for 14 seasons, but has just a year remaining on her contract. Pingeton is 236-199 overall at Missouri, but is 16 games under .500 in her ten seasons without Sophie Cunningham on the roster. The Tigers went 92-39 and made four NCAA Tournament appearances in Cunningham’s four seasons, but have never made the Big Dance in the other ten seasons under Pingeton.
Missouri, of course, is currently without an athletic director. Pingeton has one year left on her contract and would be owed approximately $233,000 if Missouri fired her.
"I'm a firm believer in being where my feet are about being present about controlling what I can control, winning the day," Pingeton said last week after Mizzou’s loss to Vanderbilt. "That's what we talk to our players about on a daily basis. And I think it's really important that I'm in a place that I'm modeling that behavior for them.”
Wednesday marked the end of season 14. It remains to be seen if another will follow.
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