On a night where the Missouri Tigers (8-1) took 38 shots from behind the arc, the team only needed a handful to push past Oral Roberts (1-6) Wednesday night, 86-64. Sophomore twins Maddie and Morgan Stock combined for 30 points on Twin Night while junior guard Morgan Eye finished with a team-best 17 points.
“I’m proud of the way we bounced back from a tough Miami game,” coach Robin Pingeton said. “Obviously we have a lot of work to with taking care of the ball.”
The Tigers played sloppy basketball in the first half, missing passes that led to turnovers and easy points for the Golden Eagles. Despite jumping out to an 18-7 lead, the Tigers’ mistakes brought the Eagles right back into the game with the lead shrinking to 21-18.
“I can deal with some of the turnovers we had in the first half,” Pingeton said. “We just haven’t practiced against that 2-1-2 half court pressure. In film we saw them play that a lot and it was something that was new to our players.”
The Tigers would respond after a timeout with a boatload of triples mainly from Eye and the Stock twins, who combined to go 5-7 from beyond the arc in the first half alone. Despite the Tigers struggles in the first half, the team was still able to use its size and perimeter play to build a 43-28 lead on the Golden Eagles at halftime.
Mizzou would extend its lead in the second half with four straight points from freshman forward Jordan Frericks and another 3 by Eye to extend the Tigers lead to 18 points. Senior forward Bri Kulas had a quiet first half for the Tigers but made the most of her inside game in the second half and finished with 13 points.
The Tigers closed out the game with ease, allowing Pingeton to empty her bench and rest the starters.
“I can see us going pretty deep into our bench all year long,” Pingeton said. “So far our depth from our bench has been pretty solid so why not use it.”
As much Pingeton likes to give her team the green light as much as she can when it comes to shooting threes, she was also pleased with her team’s ball movement against ORU.
“We had 24 assists so I think that’s really solid,” Pingeton. “This is a team where there’s not anyone considered about getting their points. We rarely take my-turn shots.”
Freshman forward Dorottya Balla led the Golden Eagles with a team high 15 points.
The Tigers will go for their second straight win at 2 p.m Sunday afternoon when they face Bradley for a home matinee.
