Missouri women’s basketball will take the court in Macomb, Illinois to tip off its 2018-19 campaign against Western Illinois on Nov. 6. On Monday at Mizzou Arena, the Tigers showed their defensive muscle but faltered late in a 70-48 exhibition win over Missouri Western.
Wearing a new set of white uniforms, Missouri got down to business quickly, enacting a pressing defense that suffocated the Griffons to the tune of seven first quarter turnovers. The Tigers scored the last 14 points of the quarter to take a 25-7 lead.
About four minutes into the game, redshirt junior Hannah Schuchts exited with what appeared to be a right ankle injury. She would return to the bench in the second quarter, but did not reenter the game. Missouri coach Robin Pingeton announced the injury as an ankle sprain.
Schuchts, who averaged 2.4 points in 7.8 minutes per game last season, was among the starting five on Monday. At 6-foot-2, she is one of the tallest players on the Tigers’ roster, which is lacking in size this season.
Missouri continued to cruise in the second quarter. Sophomore Emmanuelle Tahane, who replaced Schuchts after her injury, scored a team-high seven first half points as the Tigers took a 42-16 lead into the break.
“She had some nice drives to the basket,” Pingeton said. “But I think the thing that stood out to me about [Tahane] tonight was more her defense. I thought she did a really nice job defensively for us.”
The second half would be a different story on both sides of the ball for Missouri. The Griffons outscored the Tigers 32-28 over the final two quarters, and Missouri committed 13 turnovers compared with just four in the first half.
“I felt like we really didn’t bring the same kind of focus and intensity that we needed to in that second half,” Pingeton said. “For as pretty as the first half was, the second half was that ugly.”
Freshman Akira Levy turned in a flashy performance, with 10 points and six rebounds that were accentuated by her run-and-gun style of play.
“I thought [Levy] had a really good first half,” Pingeton said. “She’s a really special player, she’s really dynamic, pushes the ball [and] has the ability to really create.”
Levy’s high energy and explosiveness is reminiscent of Sophie Cunningham, the senior star who led Mizzou with 15 points on the night.
“It’s really easy to feed off each other,” Cunningham said of herself and Levy. “We kind of bring the energy for the team, and we’ve got to sustain it for 40 minutes.”
Missouri’s last chance to prepare before the season opener will come Thursday, when it hosts Washburn University in another exhibition at Mizzou Arena.
_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com
