Struggles from the charity stripe turned out to be the undoing for the Missouri women’s basketball team Saturday, as they watched a big lead disappear in a 60-55 overtime loss to Kansas State. The loss drops Missouri to 3-5 in conference play, and 11-12 overall.
The Tigers held a 12-point lead with 7 minutes and 53 seconds left in the game, but a 15-6 run by the Wildcats tied the game up at 50 at the end of regulation. Missouri missed all four free throw attempts in overtime, and Kansas State pulled away with the victory. Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said the Tigers simply missed chances to seal the victory in regulation.
“When we’re up 12, it’s just a matter of time that you go up 18 if you make free throws,” Pingeton said. “When someone’s making a run at you, that’s so key and such an important part of the game. We didn’t do that, and it’s unfortunate.”
Missouri came out of halftime with an 18-8 run, eventually taking their largest lead of the game with seven minutes remaining. But then Wildcat forward Brittany Chambers knocked down four consecutive three-pointers, bringing Kansas State within one point of the Tigers. Missouri guard RaeShara Brown said that moment stood out most after the game.
“Mostly on defense, we’ve got to guard the three ball a lot harder,” Brown said. “You know, you’ll take a two over a three any day. We just have to contest better on the three-point line. We had to score the ball. I think that was one of the most important things during that stretch. When they were knocking down those threes, we’ve got to come back and counter it with a two or a three.”
But Missouri couldn’t get anything started offensively, committing two turnovers in the final two minutes and nearly avoiding a breakaway layup by Kansas State. In overtime, senior guard Jasmyn Otote and senior forward Shakara Jones each missed two free throws, and the Wildcats ran out the clock for the victory. Brown said the loss was tough to take, but one the team can’t dwell on.
“I mean, you want possessions back, but you can’t have them,” Brown said. “We should’ve done things differently; you see stuff going on in your head right now that you didn’t see while on the floor. We should’ve slowed it down a little bit, took care of the ball, knocked down shots. But you can’t worry about that now.”
Pingeton attributed the lack of execution in the last minutes of regulation to a lack of experience in “finishing” a game.
“I think they’re still in the process of what it really takes to seize an opportunity,” Pingeton said. “I look at them, and I talk about seizing this moment, and I don’t know that they completely understand what we’re talking about. So it’s our job as a staff to continue to teach what this is truly all about.”
Throughout the game, Kansas State used a double team to contain Brown off of screens. Brown still recorded 21 points, and Wildcat coach Deb Patterson said that’s credit to her talent.
“She’s still so talented that you can show two-two and she’ll still blow by it,” Patterson said. “And then literally every time she was getting to the rim, she was really beating a third defender. That’s what the great ones in this league do, and all credit to her for her ability to do that.”
Pingeton admitted the loss was a tough one to swallow, but said her team will spend the next week moving on and preparing to face Oklahoma State.
“We’re absolutely not going to be allowed to hang our heads, feel sorry for ourselves or point fingers,” Pingeton said. “I’m big on that, you win as a team, you lose as a team and you get better as a team. So I don’t care how bad this hurts today, you better believe we’re going to roll up our sleeves and get back to work next week.”
