| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 23 | 11 | 15 | 23 | 72 |
| Missouri | 10 | 21 | 13 | 18 | 62 |
Point guard Mama Dembele issues instructions to the Mizzou offense during Monday’s SEC women’s basketball game at Mizzou Arena against Georgia. (Photo: Nathan Assata)
by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
The University of Missouri women’s basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season, Monday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
The Tigers fell behind early and trailed from start to finish, in what proved to be a 72-62 loss in a key Southeastern Conference league game against No. 13-ranked Georgia.
“Obviously, disappointed but also understand we’re playing some really good teams,” Mizzou head coach Robin Pingeton said. “My message in the locker room is we’ve got to be able to control what we can control better. You’re playing against the best of the best night in and night out, so that margin of error is so small.”
The errors began early for the Tigers, who saw Georgia, which had earned a notorious reputation as a team that began games poorly, began Monday’s game with its best first quarter of the season.
The Lady Bulldogs came out of the locker room hot and knocked down six of their first eight shots, while also holding Mizzou to 24 percent shooting and forcing six Tiger turnovers, which all led to the visitors outscoring the home team 23-10 in the first period.
“They came out hot and everything was falling for them,” Pingeton said. “I didn’t think we played with great pace. I felt like they sped us up.”
Things got better for Mizzou in the second quarter. In fact, the Tigers were dynamite in the second stanza, as they outscored Georgia 21-11, and almost made up the entire first quarter deficit.
“We tried to switch it up to our zone,” Pingeton said. “I thought our zone maybe just slowed the tempo down a little bit.”
The zone worked well, but Georgia still managed to hold onto a 34-31 lead at the half. And even with both teams playing well, the Lady Bulldogs were able to maintain their edge throughout the third quarter and even managed to go ahead 54-46 midway through the fourth quarter.
The Tigers responded right away though, with junior forward Hayley Frank knocking down three three-pointers in a span of 90 seconds, including one on a brilliant stepback move with a defender in her face, that pulled Mizzou to within 56-55.
That play brought the entire Mizzou Arena crowd to its feet and had the Mizzou bench as fired up as it had been all night.
Unfortunately, that was as close as the Tigers would get, as Georgia went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to go back ahead 63-55, before pulling away to eventually win the game by 10.
“In these games, when you’re playing elite level teams, everything adds up,” Pingeton said. “And you’re not going to play perfect, but you’ve got to make sure you control what you can control.”
The loss dropped Mizzou’s overall record to 13-5 and its SEC mark to 2-3. Georgia improved to 14-3 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
The Tigers, who have now lost three games in a row, will try to get back onto the winning track on Thursday, when they’ll travel to Nashville to play Vanderbilt.
Mizzou’s next home game will be Sunday, January 23, when the Tigers will host Texas A&M. Tipoff that day at Mizzou Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Georgia 72
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Jenna Staiti | * | 38 | 8-18 | 0-0 | 6-7 | 5-7 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| 23 | Que Morrison | * | 38 | 4-15 | 1-3 | 9-11 | 1-5 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 18 |
| 03 | Sarah Ashlee Barker | * | 31 | 4-8 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 2-1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| 20 | Jordan Isaacs | * | 31 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| 04 | Mikayla Coombs | * | 40 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 00 | Zoesha Smith | 7 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 22 | Malury Bates | 6 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 01 | Chloe Chapman | 5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 53 | Jillian Hollingshead | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | – | 200 | 26-61 | 4-8 | 16-19 | 11-22 | 33 | 19 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 72 |
Missouri 62
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | Aijha Blackwell | * | 35 | 8-14 | 2-3 | 9-14 | 1-12 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| 43 | Hayley Frank | * | 37 | 7-15 | 4-8 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| 01 | Lauren Hansen | * | 38 | 4-14 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| 04 | Mama Dembele | * | 29 | 2-5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | Haley Troup | * | 33 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 0-3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 02 | Sara-Rose Smith | 17 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 30 | Izzy Higginbottom | 9 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 32 | Jayla Kelly | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 40 | Micah Linthacum | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 24 | Kiya Dorroh | 0+ | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | – | 200 | 21-52 | 8-20 | 12-18 | 10-26 | 36 | 21 | 10 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 62 |
| Mizzou Tigers Women’s Basketball Upcoming Schedule |
| Thu., January 20 — at Vanderbilt — 7 pm |
| Sun., January 23 — vs. #25 Texas A&M — 5 pm |
| Thu., January 27 — at Mississippi State — 5:30 pm |
| Sun., January 30 — at Alabama — 5 pm |
| Thu., February 3 — vs. Ole Miss — 6 pm |
| All Mizzou home basketball games will be played at Mizzou Arena. |