12/6/2023 basketball Edit

Tiger women take down Missouri State

Trevon Bobo

Intern

Mizzou women’s basketball finished off its three-game in-state tour on Wednesday night at Mizzou Arena with an 81-63 win over Missouri State to improve to 7-3 on the season.

The Tigers entered today’s game with a 6-3 record, and most recently defeated SEMO on Saturday 88-43. Earlier in the year, Mizzou lost at St. Louis University. The win over the Bears gave Mizzou a 2-1 record against in-state opposition this season.

The Bears hung close with Mizzou through the first quarter timeout, but Hannah Linthacum gotthe Tiger offense going in the first as she contributed four points. Coming out the break Mizzou went on a 9-0 run behind seven consecutive points from Ashton Judd. Judd finished the first quarter with seven points and four rebounds, giving the Tigers an offensive spark. At the end of the first quarter the Mizzou lead grew to 22-11.

To begin the second quarter the Tigers went on a two minute scoring drought and the Bears closed the lead to five. But once again, Missouri made a run in the second half of the quarter. The Mizzou bench combined for half the team's points in the quarter. Abby Schreacke, Sarah Linthacum and Hilke Feldrappe had nine of the team's 18 points while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field. The Tigers went into halftime with an 11-point lead, 40-29.

After the game coach Robin Pingeton said when the bench is able to contribute, she feels the team is at its best.

“I just think that it's critical to be able to maintain the level of play that we want to and how we want to run in transition," Pingeton said. "I feel like we're at our best when we go a little bit deeper into our bench versus playing with a shorter, shorter rotation”.

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Frank and Judd shot a combined 6-17 in the half, with 16 total points, but really got going in the third quarter. The pair combined for 11 points in the third. Mizzou shot 4-8 from three-point range in the quarter and extended its lead to 14 points. The Mizzou defense switched to a zone look in the third quarter, forcing Missouri State to shoot 2-8 from behind the arc.

In the fourth quarter Mama Dembele made her presence known on both ends of the floor as she had five points, four assists, and three steals. Mizzou managed to extend its lead and win by 18 points. The Tigers were never really threatened after halftime.

Mizzou finished the game shooting 48% (32-67) from the field and 42% (10-24) from three point range. The Tigers scored 42 points in the paint tonight and had 26 scored off the bench.

Key Performances:

Mama Dembele: Dembele ranked second in the SEC with 59 asissist on the season and averaging 4.4 per game. Dembele finished the night with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists and 3 steals. Dembele shot an efficient 4-6 from the field and 1-2 from behind the arc to give the Tigers an offensive boost.

“Really happy for Mama," Pingeton said. "It's been really cool to just see her blossom and grow and for her to be at that point where she understands the impact that she has on this team. In so many ways bigger than scoring, with her demeanor and with her leadership. I think she feels very comfortable with her voice this year and it's just been fantastic for us. [I’m] proud of her growth”.

Ashton Judd: Judd finished the game with her third double-double of the season and her fourth 20-plus point performance. Judd finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds while managing to shoot 4-8 from three-point range.

Pingeton believes that Judd has grown so much in the last year because of her dedication to the game.

“She's been a grinder," Pingeton said. "I can count on one, maybe two hands, the amount of days since the spring that she wasn't in the gym twice a day. I mean it flat out, when you want something you gotta go work for it and easy is never gonna get you there. She's invested a lot in her craft. She's a fierce competitor.”

“I love to play with her, she always wants to win no matter what," Dembele said. "I feel like we both have that in us and it's just great to go out and compete with someone who wants it as much as you want it. She works a lot, and she always wants to improve, we always have side conversations of how she can be better for us, and I think that's great.”

Abby Feit: In her last game against SEMO, Feit scored a season-high 11 points on 5-7 shooting. Tonight Feit bested that performance and provided a huge offensive spark for the Tigers coming off the bench with 13 points. Feit shot 6-8 from the field in 17 minutes and shot 1-3 from behind the arc.

Feit’s strong performance was nothing new to her teammates and coaches.

“[Abby] was playing really strong, and really at a high level, then went through that injury early and that kind of set her back a little bit," Pingeton said. "But you know what we saw tonight is something that we get a chance to see a lot of times in practice and it's I think so important that we get her back in rhythm and back into a groove because she's a key piece of this team”.

Feit said she felt this performance was good for her confidence but she ultimately has the goal of helping her team.

“I think it definitely brings up my confidence, obviously but then, you know if I'm drawing attention that opens up my other teammates, as well,” Feit said. “We had a lot of people score and Mama always throws great passes. So I think I was just on the receiving end of a lot of those. We just worked well together as a team and I was able to score a few points under that but overall I think it was a team effort.”