The defeat drops the Tigers to 2-5 in the SEC
Missouri women’s basketball (11-9, 2-5) fell short in a tight game to Texas A&M (15-4, 3-3) 69-67 despite overcoming a slow offensive start.
Texas A&M jumped on the Tigers early, outscoring them 15-6 in the first quarter. Missouri struggled to score early, starting the game shooting 2/13, including a scoreless run of six-plus minutes.
Missouri’s shooting struggles continued into the second quarter, as it trailed 22-13 at the media timeout. Despite being a usually solid shooting team, Missouri started the game 0-7 from downtown.
“I think it just took some time to adjust to it,” Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said.
Missouri scored 12 points after the media timeout, with seven from graduate forward Hayley Frank and five from freshman guard Abbey Schreacke. The Tigers continued to fight, drawing within six points at the half.
Missouri played close in the third quarter, cutting the Aggie lead to three. However, as the quarter closed, the Tigers failed to take the lead, playing from behind 48-44.
Their luck finally changed to start the fourth, taking the first lead since early in the first quarter at the 52-51 mark. It came on the back of two deep threes from freshman guard Grace Slaughter.
“It was a combination of both kind of recognizing that I had a shot and knowing that Coach [Pingeton], knowing that my teammates all have the confidence in me to shoot it,” Slaughter said.
The teams continued to battle, as they were tied at 63 with less than 90 seconds remaining. Texas A&M took a 2-point lead with 54 seconds remaining after a foul off a steal attempt from senior guard Mama Dembele. Missouri responded as Frank made a pair from the free throw line with 49 seconds remaining to tie it back up.
The fouls continued, as Texas A&M committed an offensive foul on the inbound attempt after a timeout. The Aggies immediately got the ball back, forcing a turnover.
Texas A&M’s final offensive possession resulted in an offensive rebound and drawing a foul. The Aggies made both shots, forcing a timeout from the Tigers with 20 seconds left while trailing 67-65.
Dembele drove on the following possession but lost the ball out-of-bounds. Texas A&M made both free throws, and a Frank shot could only cut the deficit in half, as Missouri lost 69-67.
Frank led Missouri with 26 points to go along with seven rebounds. The graduate forward led MU from behind the arc, making 4/7 three-pointers. This included a triple in the third, where Frank was hit in the face after the made shot, causing her to lose a contact lens.
Frank’s scoring pushed her into fourth place on the all-time Missouri list with 1,929 points, passing Julie Helm.
“I think everybody really looks to her for her leadership,” Pingteon said. “[Frank is] just having a heck of a year in the SEC.”
Slaughter finished second on the team with 13 points, eight from the fourth quarter. In addition to the triples, the freshman made a pair of free throws to give Missouri a 60-58 lead.
The Tigers continued to struggle on the glass, as Texas A&M outrebounded Missouri 37-25. This was especially apparent in offensive rebounds, as the Aggies turned 13 offensive rebounds into eight second-chance points. By contrast, Missouri gathered four offensive rebounds resulting in no second-chance points.
Missouri will be back at Mizzou Arena on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. against border rival Arkansas.
Edited by Quentin Corpuel | qcorpuel@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com