Mizzou’s Abby Feit defends against Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson during Sunday’s SEC women’s basketball game in Knoxville. (Photo courtesy: Lady Vol Athletics)

NCAA Women’s Basketball	1	2	3	4	Final
Missouri (11-11, 2-7)	17	17	15	20	69
Tennessee (14-7, 7-2)	28	18	17	17	80

Nora Nichols
Staff Writer

KNOXVILLE, TN — Playing without leading scorer and rebounder Hayley Frank, the University of Missouri women’s basketball team just couldn’t keep pace with the University of Tennessee Lady Vols in a Southeastern Conference game on Sunday.

Missouri had four players score in double figures, but trailed wire-to-wire, in what proved to be an 80-69 loss at the Food City Center, formerly known as Thompson-Boling Arena.

“When you look at our rosters and our lineups on the court, you’ve gotta a pretty heavy upperclassmen lineup in Tennessee and we’ve got a young players,” Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said. “Just that experience is huge and ‘Frankie’ is a fifth year senior and so she’s been is some of these games. So we missed her a lot, for sure. Not only her scoring but a young lady that’s been in these battles before.”

The loss was Missouri’s fourth in a row and dropped the Tigers’ record to 11-11 overall and 2-7 in SEC play. Tennessee improved to 14-7 overall and 7-2 in the conference.

The Lady Vols took control of the game early, by scoring 28 points in the first quarter. Mizzou tried to hang tough and shot 62 percent (8-for-13) in the opening stanza. But Tennessee was even hotter, as it shot 63 percent and made six three-pointers.

From that point on, the Tigers were chasing the Lady Vols for the rest of the game. And they almost managed to catch them, as they got as close as three points, following a 15-2 run midway through the period that made the score 52-49.

Freshman Grace Slaughter was a key figure in that run, she scored 10 of the points and assisted on a three-pointer by Abby Feit as well. It was Slaughter’s three with three minutes left in the quarter that forced Tennessee to call a timeout.

After the Lady Vols regrouped, they closed the quarter with an 11-0 run that put them back ahead 63-49 going into the fourth.

In the fourth, Mizzou never got closer than that 13-point deficit until Hilke Feldrappe hit a jumper on the final play of the game to make the score 80-69.

“I thought we got a little bit heavy on the dribble,” Pingeton said. “I thought we were trying to do to much off the bounce versus trusting our cutting and screening action.”

Senior Mama Dembele led Mizzou with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Slaughter finished with 14 points, Feldrappe had 11 points, and Ashton Judd scored 12 points.

Tennessee was led by seniors Jewel Spear, who had 22 points, and Rickea Jackson, who scored 19 points.

Missouri will be on the road again for its next contest. The Tigers will travel to the other Columbia to play top-ranked and undefeated South Carolina on Thursday.

That game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m., and will be televised nationally on the SEC Network.

Missouri 69

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
04	Dembele,Mama	*	35	8-13	0-2	2-2	1-7	8	1	3	6	0	4	18
00	Slaughter,Grace	*	38	5-9	2-4	2-2	1-2	3	0	2	2	0	0	14
24	Judd,Ashton	*	34	5-17	2-6	0-0	1-4	5	4	0	1	0	2	12
14	Feit,Abby	*	26	2-5	2-4	0-0	0-1	1	1	1	1	0	0	6
34	Linthacum,Hannah	*	19	0-0	0-0	0-2	1-1	2	2	1	2	0	1	0
05	Feldrappe,Hilke		21	4-7	0-2	3-3	0-2	2	1	0	0	0	0	11
23	Schreacke,Abbey		21	3-7	2-4	0-0	0-3	3	1	2	1	0	1	8
20	Linthacum,Sarah		4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	Linthacum,Micah		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-3	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	27-58	8-22	7-9	5-24	29	10	9	13	0	8	69

Tennessee 80

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
00	Spear,Jewel	*	33	9-14	4-7	0-2	1-5	6	1	6	1	0	3	22
02	Jackson,Rickea	*	33	8-14	1-3	2-4	3-2	5	1	3	4	0	1	19
01	Puckett,Sara	*	30	5-10	3-4	2-3	1-4	5	0	1	0	1	2	15
15	Powell,Jasmine	*	26	3-6	0-2	1-1	1-2	3	0	6	0	0	0	7
20	Key,Tamari	*	14	2-3	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	1	1	1	0	4
11	Striplin,Karoline		17	3-6	0-2	2-2	1-3	4	1	0	0	0	1	8
05	Wynn,Kaiya		14	2-4	0-1	1-2	1-0	1	1	1	2	0	0	5
21	Darby,Tess		18	0-4	0-4	0-0	0-2	2	3	0	0	0	2	0
53	Hollingshead,Jillian		11	0-2	0-0	0-0	0-3	3	0	0	1	0	0	0
12	Darby,Edie		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Strickland,Avery		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	32-63	8-23	8-14	8-25	33	9	18	9	2	9	80

2023-24 Missouri Tigers Women’s Basketball Schedule

Date	Time	At	Opponent	Location	TV
February 8, 2024 (Thursday)	6 p.m.	Away	#1 South Carolina	Columbia, S.C.
February 11, 2024 (Sunday)	1 p.m.	Home	Auburn	Mizzou Arena
February 18, 2024 (Sunday)	3 p.m.	Away	Arkansas	Fayetteville, Ark.
February 22, 2024 (Thursday)	5 p.m.	Away	Florida	Gainesville, Fla.
February 26, 2024 (Monday)	6 p.m.	Home	Ole Miss	Mizzou Arena
February 29, 2024 (Thursday)	7 p.m.	Home	Vanderbilt	Mizzou Arena
March 3, 2024 (Sunday)	2 p.m.	Away	Mississippi State	Starkville, Miss.
March 6-10, 2024	TBA	Neutral	SEC Tournament	Greenville, S.C. / Bon Secours Wellness Arena