Early in the second quarter of Missouri’s Thursday-night matchup with Vanderbilt, weaving through and around pursuing Vanderbilt defenders, Mama Dembele couldn’t be stopped. Changing directions, shifting gears, stopping on a dime and then turning quickly out of a double team to look for an open shooter, the junior guard flicked a pass back behind her to a cutting Lauren Hansen who sliced to the basket for an open layup to extend the Missouri lead to 16 halfway through the first quarter.
After a torrid start, the surging Tigers maintained the 16-point advantage going into halftime, relying on their lights-out shooting and intelligent passing to carve up Vanderbilt’s aggressive full-court defense. The second half featured more of the same as Missouri cruised to an 88-69 win to end a six-game losing streak.
Though the Tigers were sloppy with the ball early in the first, committing a couple turnovers and struggling to get into their offense in the opening four minutes, they eventually overcame the stingy Vanderbilt defense as a more dynamic lineup including Sara-Rose Smith and Ashton Judd proved a key in-game adjustment.
“Today was ‘throw a punch Thursday’,” Hayley Frank said. “We talked about throwing the first punch, and that was the mentality when we went into halftime.”
The Tigers continued to punch after their dominant first half to complete a 86-69 win on Thursday night, running the Commodores out of Mizzou Arena with Frank, Smith and Hansen spearheading the effort.
Missouri (15-8, 4-6 SEC) finished shooting 56.9% from the field, as well as 50% from beyond the arc, as the offensive fireworks helped to snap a six-game losing streak. Extra shots in practice leading up to the game were key for the Tigers’ breakthrough.
“It’s been a long stretch, so I’m really happy for these guys,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “I felt like it was just a matter of time before shots started falling for us. It feels more like the Mizzou basketball we’re used to.”
The Tigers’ success rested on a precise and flexible attack on the Vanderbilt defense: the Tigers’ 21 assists, led by Dembele’s five and Hansen’s four, were just one shy of their season-best set back in November.
“It’s really fun when we play like that,” Frank said.
Frank’s 25 points led the Tigers for the fourth consecutive game, and marked her third game eclipsing the 20-point mark in that same span. Frank shot 8-12 from the field, and sank all six of her attempts from the charity stripe.
After slumping for the past three games, Hansen’s 22 points were a welcome sight for the Tiger offense. Eleven of those points came in the first half, as her aggressive cutting to the basket helped put the Vanderbilt defense on its heels and got her great looks around the rim to extend Missouri’s lead.
“When you work so hard on your craft and things aren’t just flowing, it’s hard,” Pingeton said. “She’s so invested and she wants it so bad. She continued to battle and I thought her shot selection was better.”
In the three games previous to the Thursday night win, Hansen averaged six points a game on 28% shooting.
“She gave up some good shots for some great shots,” Pingeton added.
Sara-Rose Smith logged a career-high 16 points on perfect shooting splits off the bench, hitting 6-6 shots from the field, 2-2 from deep and all four of her free throws. Not only that, but her court vision and awareness helped to stretch the full-court Vanderbilt defense.
“All of my coaches have really been getting on me about making my shot, making sure it looks the same,” Smith said. “Getting in those extra shots this week was really helpful with that confidence.”
Though overshadowed by an outstanding offensive night for the Tigers, the defense also shone for the Tigers. While Vanderbilt leading scorer Caija Harbison erupted for 26 points on 9-17 shooting as well as five steals and four assists, Missouri shut down all other scoring options.
“Caija is a really talented player,” Pingeton said. “She’s explosive and she really pushes the tempo for them.”
The next highest scorer for the Commodores, Marnelle Garraud, added 13 points on 5-11 shooting. Vanderbilt (10-13, 1-8) finished shooting 39% as a team, lowered to just 26% when excluding Harbison and Garraud.
“We gave up too many offensive rebounds, and that’s something we’ve been good about for the most part this year,” Pingeton said. “But there was a greater sense of being connected. We said all year we wanted to be more connected, more gritty and more resilient than anyone we play. We didn’t play perfect, but we played pretty solid.”
The Tigers host Alabama (16-6, 5-4) on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Mizzou Arena looking for consecutive wins at home. Missouri bested the Crimson Tide earlier this season, but will be in for a challenging matchup off of a couple days’ rest.
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