Missouri women’s basketball played three games over the Thanksgiving break after losing to Washington on Nov. 17 in the Preseason WNIT Tournament.
The Tigers played Indiana State on Tuesday in Mizzou Arena, and they dominated 77-48. Mizzou scored the first 14 points of the game, leaving Indiana State scoreless for the first four minutes. Mizzou’s lead narrowed to as close as eight points during the third quarter, but the game never got any closer.
The team was finally able to enjoy a vacation of sorts, traveling to the Bahamas to play in the Junkanoo Jam, a two-round tournament that took place Friday and Saturday. The Tigers beat Creighton 72-63 in the first round of the tournament, a game that saw six lead changes. Mizzou, however, was able to convert a 13-4 run in the third quarter into a win.
This win allowed Missouri to compete against Georgia Tech for the Freeport Division title, but Mizzou narrowly lost 72-70. Senior Sierra Michaelis pushed Mizzou up with an eight-point lead in the first quarter, but Georgia Tech played catch-up in the second, tying the game 31-31 at the half. The second half remained tight, but Georgia Tech took the lead in the final minutes.
Here are three takeaways from the past week:
**Freshmen on fire**
Freshman Jordan Chavis’s five three-pointers were the highlight of the Indiana State game as she scored a career-high of 17 points, leading four Tigers in double figures. She scored double digits a second time in the game against Georgia Tech with only three games under her belt. Indeed, she was instrumental in narrowing Georgia Tech’s lead at the end of the game, scoring nine of her 12 points in the final 53 seconds.
Freshman Amber Smith scored a career-high eight points against Indiana State. She then broke that with a career-high 17 points against Creighton. Also notable were her first two career three-pointers against Creighton.
If these two freshmen continue to be productive, they can significantly ease the burden on the team’s veterans.
**Defense needs to be amped up**
Missouri’s defense has been notably good so far.
The team has been holding a vast majority of its opponents to a field goal percentage below 30, one of just 17 Division I programs doing so. It kept Nebraska to 35 points in the Preseason WNIT, the lowest for the Huskers in their history in the NCAA.
But the defense hasn’t been good enough. In Missouri’s loss to Washington, the Huskies managed to shoot 44.8 percent from the field. Georgia State this week also broke the 40 percent mark, resulting in a loss.
It shows that Missouri’s easy wins have partly been due to keeping its opponents to such low field goal percentages. But when Missouri was unable to, the chance of a win went down.
While Missouri’s defense is definitely above par, in order to improve upon last season’s success, Mizzou will need to find consistent, stronger defense against higher-ranked teams such as Washington. After all, just one loss in the NCAA Tournament means it’s over.
**Cierra Porter continues to shine**
After earning Preseason WNIT All-Tournament honors, sophomore Cierra Porter dominated this week, adding a Freeport Division All-Star title. She has been averaging a team-high 14.2 points per game and achieving double-figures in all of the past six games. Arguably the most productive Tiger in this season’s team thus far, she also leads the team in rebounds. Porter can definitely be a centerpiece to build Mizzou’s future around.
Mizzou’s next game is 7 p.m. Tuesday against Western Illinois at Mizzou Arena.