On Friday, Missouri women’s basketball was placed in the national spotlight before the 2012-13 season. The event, Mizzou Madness, was part of an ESPN special that granted a look into the men’s and women’s basketball programs, featuring a Black and Gold scrimmage televised on ESPNU and ESPN3.
The women started the festivities with a 10-minute scrimmage, with two teams wearing white and black. The white team defeated the black team 31-21.
“This is the first year that we’ve been a part of this,” coach Robin Pingeton said. “I think it’s a great event. I thought it was a great turnout.”
Pingeton said the community has been “awesome” since she arrived in Columbia from Illinois State two years ago.
“I think it’s fun for the players to get out,” Pingeton said. “Especially speaking for our team, just being so young, to be able to go out there and perform in front of bright lights and a lot of fans.”
A notable performance came from senior guard Sydney Crafton, who shot 5 for 6 from the field, 2 for 3 from the perimeter and led the white team with 14 points. Crafton also had two assists and one steal.
“I was really proud of her,” Pingeton said. “She’s working her tail off and doing a lot of nice things for us. … I think she’s really trying to take some ownership of this team, and that’s what you expect out of your seniors.”
With Crafton being only one of five upperclassmen on the team, Pingeton said the team will be the youngest college team she’s coached.
“We have very high expectations for this season, but it’s also really exciting to think about where this program is going to be two and three years down the road when they’re upperclassmen,” Pingeton said.
Sophomore guard Morgan Eye, who scored five points for the white team, talked about her role on the team as well as the roles of newcomers.
“I’m still going to make mistakes as a sophomore,” Eye said. “I just no longer have the excuse that I’m a freshman, so I can’t use that anymore. With our freshmen, there’s just so much new information and new terminology that they don’t quite understand yet. That’s kind of been a challenge, but we remind them that it will come by going over it and going home and thinking about (it), then putting that into practice.”
Pingeton said freshman guard Lianna Doty stood out the most among her batch of newcomers. Doty connected on one of her two 3 point attempts and dished out three assists while getting a steal on the defensive end.
“For her to come out and do what she did tonight, I thought it was pretty impressive,” Pingeton said.
Though lineups and roles have yet to be decided, Pingeton said she plans to have all her players contribute in one way or another. The team will have a different style of play due to a lack of size in the paint and will focus on spreading other teams with guard play and an aggressive gameplay.
“We only have two weeks, and it’s going fast,” Pingeton said. “They’ve been a lot of fun to coach day in and day out. … I think we’re going to play an exciting style, which is very up-tempo, and the girls are going to work hard.”