The lights had dimmed a little, and the only people left in the stands were holding brooms and dustpans. But for Lauren Aldridge, the evening wasn’t over just yet. The Missouri redshirt senior was out on the court practicing her free throws.
The Tigers had just defeated Missouri-Kansas City at Mizzou Arena on Thursday, 66-59, to improve to 7-2 on the season and extend their winning streak to four. But it was far from an easy victory over an inferior team, and one of the weak points was Aldridge’s 0-for-6 shooting from the line, hence the postgame practice.
UMKC (2-6) showed from the start that the game would be closer than expected with consistent shooting, especially off of the Tigers’ turnovers. Junior Ericka Mattingly, last week’s Western Athletic Conference player of the week, led the Roos with 13 first half points as her team shot 40 percent from deep.
Missouri gave away the ball 17 times in the game, leading to 20 of UMKC’s points.
“[Turnovers are] going to come back to bite us if we can’t figure that out,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “Seventeen turnovers against a team that doesn’t press you, that’s just unacceptable.”
Senior Sophie Cunningham and junior Amber Smith led the way offensively for the Tigers with 24 and 19 points, respectively. It was Cunningham’s first time in double figures since November 24 in a win over Quinnipiac. Smith added 10 rebounds to make it her third double-double during the team’s four-game win streak.
After losing most of an 8-point second quarter lead, Missouri took a 36-34 lead into halftime. It began to clean up its act in the third quarter, however, shooting 54 percent from the field and turning the ball over just once as it surged to a 14-point lead.
Albeit, the Tigers couldn’t keep up the pace in the fourth. UMKC worked its way back within single digits during an uninspiring final stretch. Mattingly and Cunningham each fouled out as the game took a more physical turn and the Tigers’ defense began to lapse.
“Defense is hard work,” Pingeton said. “It’s not easy. It’s uncomfortable and you get no praise or credit for it, and we just didn’t take enough pride in that today.”
Pingeton cited a step back in the team’s mentality as one of the prominent issues during the game.
“I think we are at our best when we play with toughness and grittiness and a sense of urgency and attention to detail,” Pingeton said. “But we got away from that tonight, and when you get away from that kind of mentality, you’re going to be a pretty average team.”
A potential explanation for the team’s lack of focus and intensity could be the increased academic stress of the semester’s final weeks.
“I know it’s been a tough week for our girls academically,” Pingeton said. “This was almost more of a finals week than next week.”
The schedule won’t be any less busy for the Tigers moving forward, who will play at Saint Louis University late Sunday afternoon before final exams officially begin Monday.
“Like coach said, it’s been a tough week with finals for us, but that’s not an excuse,” Cunningham said. “We’re student-athletes for a reason, and we’ve got to study this like it’s one of our tests.”
_Edited by Adam Cole | acole@themaneater.com_