The Missouri Tigers left “a lot to be learned” Oct. 28 in a 90-84 exhibition overtime loss to the Division ll Maryville Saints at Mizzou Arena.

Maryville’s win gave Missouri its first exhibition loss since 2001. but this is nothing new for head coach Kellie Harper.

In Harper’s last year at the helm for Missouri State, the Bears dropped their exhibition opener to Division ll Central Missouri and flipped the script, making a Sweet Sixteen run in the 2018-19 season.

“It’s never fun. I don’t want to draw it up this way. That’s not fun at all” Harper said. “But I will tell you, it’ll grab their attention better than anything else.”

Maryville’s win came from efficiency beyond the arc. In the second half and overtime, the Saints cashed in on 11 threes while shooting 55%.

Junior guard Annika Pluemer, sophomore guard Lindsey Schadewalt and redshirt sophomore guard Olivia Hahn all made three triples in the second half and overtime combined.

Schadewalt was the leading scorer for the Saints with 23 points, adding three rebounds and four assists as well.

The Tigers’ leading scorer, junior guard Grace Slaughter, ended the contest with 25 points and 11 rebounds on 44% shooting, but went 1-for-7 on 3-point attempts.

Missouri finished 3-for-30 from beyond the arc with one made second-half three.

“We’re not going to win a lot of games going 3-for-30 from the 3-point line,” Harper said. “We shot a lot of quick threes that were not in rhythm.”

Transfers Jordana Reisma and Shannon Dowell added 40 points and 20 rebounds collectively. The three combined for 65 of Missouri’s 84 points and 31 of its 55 rebounds.

“I’d like to maybe sub a little bit more … but I think for us, that’s where we’ve got to have players step up and make plays and earn that right,” Harper said.

Purdue transfer Jayla Smith earned her spot due to Dowell fouling out to end the game, accumulating eight points and four rebounds on 75% shooting in over 21 minutes.

Pepperdine transfer Chloe Sotell played 28 minutes and added seven points for the Tigers but shot 1-for-9 from beyond the arc. Returning players Averi Kroenke and Abbey Schreacke started the game and combined to go 1-for-15 from the field.

Besides that seven-woman rotation, no other Tiger played more than five minutes, most of which came after their early 16-1 lead.

The turning point for Maryville was its five 3-pointers and 25 points in the third quarter that gave the team its first lead since 1-0. Maryville outscored the Tigers 65-55 in the final 25 minutes of action.

“Oh my goodness, we saw so many mistakes in our zones,” Harper said. “Getting some true live reps will help with our zones, but we’ve got to be better in all of our defenses.”

The next test will be the first regular season game for the Tigers at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 3 against the Central Arkansas Bears.

“The message for the team after this is that we can bounce back,” Slaughter said.

Edited by Colin Simmons l [email protected]
Copy edited by Avery Copeland | [email protected]
Edited by Alex Gribb | [email protected]