Mizzou forward Hayley Frank fires up a shot with Kentucky’s Amiya Jenkins defending. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Kentucky (8-5, 0-1)	19	11	22	19	71
Missouri (12-2, 1-0)	10	29	19	16	74

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

COLUMBIA, MO — After suffering a tough loss xx days ago to rival Illinois, the University of Missouri women’s basketball team bounced back with a thrilling 74-71 win over Kentucky, Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.

The Tigers got a late basket by senior Hayley Frank to break a tie score, then sank a series of free throws in the final two minutes to hold onto the lead and give themselves a win in their SEC opener against the Wildcats.

Frank finished the game with a team-high 20 points to lead Missouri, while teammate Lauren Hansen, who was battling foul trouble throughout the night finished with 18 points.

Along with the long jumpshot that gave Mizzou the late lead, Frank’s biggest points probably came from the free throw line, when she sank two in a row, with 11.5 seconds left to give the Tigers a 73-67 lead. Kentucky hit a three-pointer on its next possession to make the score 73-70 with 3.4 seconds left, but that seemed too little, too late with such a small amount of time left on the clock.

But the Wildcats caught a huge break when Mizzou committed a turnover and fouled a Kentucky player while trying to inbound the ball. That sent Kentucky’s Robyn Benton to the free throw line with a chance to pull her team within one, or possibly tie the game if she could make the first free throw then pull off the miss on purpose, get the rebound, and score play.

The second option was the one the Wildcats chose, but Benton’s second free throw didn’t hit the rim and went out of bounds. That gave Mizzou the ball back, still holding a two-point lead.

The Tigers inbounded the ball to freshman Ashton Judd, who made one of two free throws, giving her 12 points on the night, and Mizzou a 74-71 lead. Kentucky had one shot left, but were never able to get the shot off, as time ran out before they could get anyone open enough to take a shot.

The key stretch in the game, before Frank’s bucket to give Mizzou the lead for good late in the fourth, came late in the first quarter and through the first half of the second, when the Tigers went on a 20-5 run to grab its first lead of the game.

Kentucky was leading 17-6 near the end of the first, when Mizzou freshman Ashton Judd made a dazzling layup, while being fouled, and converted that into a three-point play. That sparked the Tigers and led to the huge run that gave Mizzou the lead and saw Kentucky go more than five minutes without scoring.

The Wildcats led 19-10 at the end of the first, but using that run, Mizzou led 37-30 at halftime. The Tigers never trailed again and only saw the score tied once more, which led to Frank’s big bucket and the game-icing free throws at the end.

The victory gave Mizzou a 1-0 record in SEC play and improved its overall record to 12-2. Kentucky fell to 0-1 in league play and 8-5 overall.

Kentucky 71

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
01	Benton,Robyn	*	28	5-14	2-7	10-11	1-0	1	3	0	1	2	6	22
11	Walker,Jada	*	35	5-13	3-5	2-2	0-3	3	3	6	5	0	0	15
05	Green,Blair	*	33	5-10	3-6	0-0	2-1	3	2	2	0	0	1	13
22	Scherr,Maddie	*	39	4-8	2-5	1-2	1-4	5	3	3	2	0	2	11
21	Leveretter,Nyah	*	18	1-4	0-0	0-0	6-1	7	0	0	1	1	1	2
34	King,Emma		14	3-6	0-1	0-0	0-2	2	1	0	2	0	0	6
25	Adeyeye,Adebola		22	1-1	0-0	0-0	1-1	2	3	1	0	2	2	2
13	Petty,Ajae		6	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
03	Cambridge,Kennedy		2	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
04	Russell,Eniya		2	0-2	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
20	Jenkins,Amiya		1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	3-1	4	0	0	1	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	24-60	10-26	13-15	14-13	27	18	13	14	5	12	71

Missouri 74

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
43	Hayley Frank	*	38	6-16	2-7	6-6	2-4	6	3	1	2	1	1	20
01	Lauren Hansen	*	28	6-13	3-7	3-4	1-5	6	5	1	7	0	2	18
13	Haley Troup	*	32	2-3	0-0	4-5	2-3	5	2	6	3	0	2	8
10	Katlyn Gilbert	*	30	3-5	1-1	0-0	2-2	4	1	4	5	2	4	7
20	Sarah Linthacum	*	7	1-2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
24	Ashton Judd		24	3-6	1-1	5-6	2-1	3	1	0	3	0	0	12
02	Sara-Rose Smith		20	2-5	0-1	1-4	5-2	7	1	1	2	0	0	5
32	Jayla Kelly		11	1-2	0-0	0-0	1-2	3	1	1	3	2	0	2
21	Averi Kroenke		10	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	1	2	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	4-1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	24-53	7-17	19-25	19-22	41	16	16	25	5	9	74

2022 Missouri Tigers Upcoming Women’s Basketball Schedule

Sun., January 1 — at Auburn* — 3 pm

Thu., January 5 — at Alabama* — 6:30 pm

Sun., January 8 — vs. Arkansas* — 2 pm

Thu., January 12 — vs. LSU* — 6 pm

Sun., January 15 — at South Carolina* — 12 pm

Sun., January 22 — vs. Tennessee* — 2 pm

* – Denotes Southeastern Conference game

All Mizzou home games will be played at Mizzou Arena.