It was a battle of Missouri in the Mizzou women’s basketball home-opener on Tuesday night, as the Missouri Tigers (2-0, 0-0) faced off against the Missouri State Lady Bears (0-2, 0-0). Missouri squeaked by with a victory by the score of 65-61. At times, it was difficult to see which of the two Missouri teams was the ranked one, as the Tigers struggled mightily on offense throughout much of the night.
Much like the Tigers’ season opener against Western Illinois, they got off to a slow start in the first half, at one point trailing 21-19. Soon after, the Tigers went on a 21-6 run. The first half – the second quarter in particular – was the Akira Levy show. She finished the half with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Levy showed why she earned the starting spot as a freshman, with fancy finishes and dominating the game on both ends of the court.
She picked up for a struggling Sophie Cunningham, who totaled just two points in the half, shooting 1-6 from the field. Hannah Schuchts added seven points in the half, and freshman Grace Berg had six. After an ultimately explosive second quarter, outscoring the Lady Bears 29-14, the Tigers lead 40-25 at the break.
The Tigers followed it up with an ugly third quarter. So ugly it made Missouri coach Robin Pingeton deem the win, “the ugliest game in the history of Mizzou Arena.”
The Lady Bears started the quarter on a 8-0 run. In total, they outscored the Tigers 13-3 in the quarter. Missouri shot 0-12 from the field in the quarter and turned the ball over five times. Going back to the last shot of the first half, the Tigers went on a 0-16 run from the field.
Even on an off night, it was Cunningham who broke that cold streak, hitting a jumper at the 5:50 mark in the fourth quarter.
“I am gonna have these rough nights, but when I do I have to impact the game in other ways, defensively and bringing energy to the game,” Cunningham said. “I need to bounce back quicker when I’m frustrated like that.”
The Lady Bears tied it twice, at 49-49 and 51-51 late in the fourth, but never could take the lead in the half. Cunningham scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 of the Tigers’ last 16 points. Even though it was an off night of scoring for the senior forward, she led the team in rebounds. The team had 35 total rebounds, compared to the Lady Bears’ 41.
Although being outrebounded wasn’t the main issue with the Tigers’ performance, it certainly remains a focal point that the Tigers need to work on.
“I was disappointed in our rebounding effort today,” Pingeton said. “We need to be making a better conscious effort on the boards, both in our mindset and fundamentally speaking.”
Another low point in the Tiger performance was a lack of free throw shooting. The Tigers shot a mediocre 60 percent (18-30) from the charity stripe.
“We haven’t gotten to the free throw line as much as we have in the past in practice,” Pingeton said. “I definitely have to take responsibility for that and address that.”
Cunningham and Berg each totaled 12 points for the Tigers to lead the team in scoring, while Levy followed closely with 11 of her own. For the Lady Bears, senior guard Danielle Gitzen lead the team with 16 points, while freshman guard Sydney Manning had 11. They were the only two scorers in double figures for the Lady Bears.
It was a very sloppy night for the Tigers, resulting in 15 turnovers. However, the bottom line is that the Tigers scored more points than the Lady Bears, and came out on top.
“If it wasn’t the worst game [in Mizzou Arena history] it sure was the top 10,” Pingeton said. “I’m just proud of my girls for finding a way to get it done and finishing strong in the 4th quarter.”
Mizzou returns to action on Friday, Nov. 16, to take on Green Bay. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CST at Mizzou Arena.
_Edited by Adam Cole | acole@themaneater.com_
