Mizzou’s Hayley Frank makes a move toward the basket, during Thursday’s Women’s NIT game at Mizzou Arena. (Photo courtesy: Mizzou Athletics)

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Illinois St. (24-9)	11	12	11	17	51
Missouri (18-13)	15	13	16	17	61

DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA, MO — The University of Missouri women’s basketball team pulled out a thrilling 61-51 victory over visiting Illinois State in the opening round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.

The Tigers (18-13) earned their sixth-ever WNIT victory in their 10th postseason appearance in 11 years.

Senior forward Hayley Frank led the way against head coach Robin Pingeton’s former team, for whom she coached from 2003-10. Frank finished with 15 points, six assists, five rebounds, and two steals.

Junior Sara-Rose Smith added 13 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season, while teammates Haley Troup and Ashley Judd added 11 points and eight points, respectively.

Missouri led from start-to-finish, after getting two early three-pointers from Frank to begin the game. The Tigers led 11-4 just a few minutes in and never looked back.

Defensive physicality slowed the scoring early in the second quarter, but a deep ball from Smith ignited a 9-0 run midway through and stretched Mizzou’s lead to double-digits.

Illinois State (24-9) responded with a 7-0 run of its own to claw back, but a buzzer-beater by grad student senior Katlyn Gilbert sent the Tigers into halftime with a 28-23 lead.

The second half started much like the first half ended, a methodical defensive slugfest where neither team gained a clear advantage. However, a pair of layups from Frank sparked an 11-2 Tiger spurt to close the quarter. Missouri held the Redbirds to just one made field goal in the second half of the period.

Illinois State made several advances at a comeback in the fourth, but a clutch 8-of-8 performance at the charity stripe held Illinois State at bay as Mizzou earned its first postseason victory since the opening round of the 2019 Women’s NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers held the Missouri Valley regular season champions to just 31.9% shooting on the day, including only 3-of-14 from outside the arc.

Mizzou will play the winner between Kansas and Western Kentucky in Round 2 of the WNIT.

Official game time and location will be announced at a later date, though it should be noted that Missouri’s players’ reaction following the game seemed to indicate that they thought Thursday’s game was the last one they’d play in their own arena this season.

Illinois St. 51

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
24	Wilson,DeAnna	*	31	5-12	0-0	9-10	3-8	11	3	0	5	0	1	19
03	Crompton,Mary	*	38	4-10	2-6	2-2	0-3	3	1	1	1	0	2	12
32	Bullman,Kate	*	36	1-7	0-3	3-6	0-6	6	4	1	1	0	0	5
12	Wong,Maya	*	37	2-3	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	3	4	2	0	1	4
14	Robinson,Paige	*	34	0-8	0-2	4-5	3-3	6	5	0	1	0	0	4
21	Aalsma,Abbie		8	1-4	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	1	0	0	3
02	Wright-Gaskins,Ta’Shonna		10	1-1	0-0	0-0	0-2	2	2	0	1	0	0	2
01	McGinnis-Taylor,Jasmine		3	1-1	0-0	0-0	1-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
00	Stinson,Jada		3	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-2	4	0	0	2	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	15-47	3-14	18-23	9-26	35	19	6	14	0	4	51

Missouri 61

##	Player	GS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	ORB-DRB	REB	PF	A	TO	BLK	STL	PTS
43	Hayley Frank	*	34	6-12	2-4	1-2	2-3	5	3	6	1	0	2	15
13	Haley Troup	*	35	3-6	1-2	4-4	1-1	2	1	2	1	0	1	11
01	Lauren Hansen	*	19	2-7	0-3	0-0	0-1	1	3	1	3	0	0	4
04	Mama Dembele	*	21	0-4	0-2	3-4	0-2	2	3	2	1	0	1	3
32	Jayla Kelly	*	12	1-1	0-0	1-2	0-0	0	2	1	1	0	0	3
02	Sara-Rose Smith		28	4-8	1-4	4-4	2-9	11	4	0	0	0	1	13
24	Ashton Judd		27	3-7	2-3	0-0	0-4	4	2	1	2	0	1	8
10	Katlyn Gilbert		19	2-5	0-2	0-0	0-0	0	3	3	0	0	1	4
20	Sarah Linthacum		3	0-0	0-0	0-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
21	Averi Kroenke		2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
TM	TEAM		0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-5	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Totals	–	200	21-50	6-20	13-18	5-26	31	22	16	9	0	8	61