The Missouri women’s basketball season ended Sunday with a 77-55 loss to No. 3 seed Florida State in the second round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament.
With the loss, Mizzou fell to a final record of 22-11. The team’s first-round victory over South Florida earned the Tigers an NCAA Tournament win in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history.
The Seminoles were going to be a tough out. The team had crushed its first-round opponent on Friday, beating Western Illinois 87-66. Entering Sunday’s game, the Seminoles ranked 12th in the nation in scoring with an average of 79.9 points per game.
Mizzou managed to keep up early in the contest, holding a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter. But early in the second quarter, Florida State went on a 17-2 run, which put Mizzou down seven points. The gap only widened as the game progressed into the third quarter, when the Seminoles posted 24 points to Mizzou’s 10.
The Tigers, whose 3-point shooting is usually a strong suit, shot just 25 percent from behind the arch next to Florida State’s 50 percent shooting in 3-point land. The Tigers had fewer steals, blocks, assists, field-goal percentage and rebounds.
Fouls were a sticking point for the Tigers as well. At one point, Mizzou was called for three fouls in a span of 19 seconds in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Cierra Porter scored 12 points following sophomore Sophie Cunningham’s team-high 17.
Mizzou women’s basketball will now wait for next season. Florida State will advance to the Sweet Sixteen to face the winner of the game between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Creighton.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_