Missouri women’s basketball struggles continue, dropping their sixth consecutive game in a 70-59 home loss to Auburn. Missouri was without graduate forward Hayley Frank for the third consecutive game with an injury. Frank leads Missouri in both points and rebounds, and the Tigers are 0-3 without her in the lineup.

“No guarantees but I feel like we’re getting really, really close,” head coach Robin Pingeton said about Frank’s progress after the game.

Auburn jumped on Missouri early, leading 16-8 after one quarter. Missouri struggled to make shots, making only 3/15 attempts in the opening frame.

Missouri’s struggles continued in the second quarter, trailing 33-21 at the half. In the first half, Missouri made 8/26 field goals and 4/13 three-pointers. A big bright spot for the Tigers was freshman guard Abbey Schreacke, who led the team with eight points in the first half. Schreacke finished the game with 11 points on 3/7 three-point shooting.

Missouri fought back during the third quarter, hinting at a possible comeback. A triple from Schreacke tied the game at 48 with 1:13 left in the quarter. This effort came up short in the end, as Auburn rattled off a 15-0 run over a near five-minute span.

Auburn rolled for the remainder of the fourth, winning 70-58 in Columbia. Missouri turned the ball over on several possessions early in the fourth quarter, giving Auburn quick chances for points. This was an area of failure as Missouri accrued 22 turnovers, leading to 24 points for Auburn.

“[Auburn] just takes advantage anytime you exhale on the offensive end,” Pingeton said.

Another issue was the offensive rebounding, where Auburn converted 13 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points.

“I don’t know, I really don’t,” Pingeton said. “I don’t want to make anything up, we put a high premium on it in practice.”

Despite the loss, senior guard Mama Dembele achieved a triple double for the first time since 2011 for the Tigers. Dembele led the team in points with 15, rebounds with 11 and assists with 11. Despite the accomplishment, Dembele stayed humble during the press conference after the game.

“I’ll take whatever the defense is giving me…just playing with on confidence,” Dembele said.

Missouri has one week off before traveling to play Arkansas on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m.

Edited by Grace Ainger

Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com

Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com