Tigers drop another one at home
Missouri women’s basketball doesn’t lose non-conference games at home.
A month ago, that statement would have made sense to anyone who has been to Mizzou Arena over the past seven years. The Tigers won 54 games straight non-conference games, a school record. It was a point of pride for Coach Robin Pingeton; something that symbolized the foundation she built her in nine years as head coach at Missouri.
Then Green Bay beat the Tigers 56-49 on Nov 16. Mizzou hadn’t lost a non-conference home game since Dec 7, 2011. That game seemed like an outlier. Losing wasn’t ideal, but Green Bay is consistent mid-major power house and winners of four straight Horizon League Championships.
It happened again Saturday afternoon against South Dakota. The Tigers dropped the second of their last four non-conference home games, 74-61 to the Coyotes.
For a while it looked like a blowout. Missouri was down by as much as 13 points in the third quarter, but the Tigers continued to fight in the fourth starting the quarter on a 14-5 run.
When junior Amber Smith delivered the pass to a wide-open Sophie Cunningham at the top of the key three, the Missouri star delivered. Cunningham’s three brought Missouri within two points, and it looked like a furious comeback would be completed.
South Dakota represented an opportunity for Missouri to defeat an accomplished non-conference opponent at home. The Coyotes are ranked No. 1 in espnW’s mid-major rankings, on a seven-game winning streak, and already defeated No. 23 Iowa State earlier this season.
Missouri fans were all on their feet, it wouldn’t happen again. Cunningham had 19 points and the Tigers comeback was almost complete. All the excitement inside Mizzou Arena was soon squashed by the Coyotes, finishing the game on an 11-0 run to silence the crowd and complete the upset. Missouri went 0-6 from deep during that span.
Missouri led 17-12 after the first quarter and shot 4-9 from three-point range. But the switch to a zone defense proved to be the difference in the game for South Dakota. After the first the Coyotes outscored Missouri in every quarter after that and forced 10 of the Tigers 13 turnovers.
“Again, we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Pingeton said. “I felt like we were getting good looks and I thought their buzz defense (2-1-2) got in our psyche a little bit.”
Missouri looked uncomfortable at first figuring out the zone and it showed in the Tigers settling for threes and unforced errors in the half court.
“I felt like we kinda beat ourselves too,” senior Lauren Aldridge said. “I don’t know how many times we just threw the ball out of bounds or just weren’t poised when we got the ball middle of the floor.”
Missouri had three players in double-digits, Aldridge and Smith combined for 22 points. However, the Tigers shoot 33 percent from three-point range and only had 16 points in the paint compared to South Dakota’s 30. They attempted only seven two-point shots the entire scond half.
Missouri (8-3) returns home on Monday, Dec 17 at 7 p.m. against Texas State. The short layoff will be beneficial for a team itching to get back on the court.
“I think we have a lot of over-thinkers on this team,” Cunningham said. “So for us to have to move on to the next one, I think that will be good for us.”
Texas State (4-4) is coming off a 93-39 victory over St. Thomas.