Fans traveled to fill the stands on Sunday, Feb. 13 to attend the annual Pink Out game as Missouri women’s basketball took the court against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

It was a big night for 5-foot-6 sophomore guard Mama Dembele, who utilized her quick speed and shifty moves to help Missouri jump to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter, leading to her highest scoring game of the season of 17 points. 

Dembele began the execution for the Tigers that led to 6-foot-1 junior forward Hayley Frank responding with a three, building upon Missouri’s lead with seven minutes left to play in the first quarter.

However, with a 3-pointer by 5-foot-7 freshman guard Samara Spencer and a made basket from the Charity stripe by 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Sasha Goforth, Arkansas took its first lead of the quarter with six minutes left. 

Multiple Tigers contributed to the board to build Missouri’s lead, but it was Dembele who finished the first quarter with eight points – almost half of the Tigers’ score. 

With the lead going into the second quarter, Missouri continued to execute on offense,  leading to a variety of open looks and scoring options. On defense the Tigers’ played strong, grabbing rebounds and snagging steals when they could. Dembele matched up against Arkansas’ 5-foot-9 redshirt senior guard Amber Ramirez and stayed with Ramirez the entire game.

This led to defensive steals, allowing Missouri to push the ball down the court and score on face break layups and pull up threes.

Missouri held the lead for the entirety of the second quarter and was up 41-34 at the half.

Within the first 45 seconds of the second half, the Tigers expanded their lead with a layup made by 5-foot-8 junior guard Lauren Hansen. Throughout the quarter, Frank, 5-foot-10 redshirt senior guard Haley Troup, 6-foot-0 junior guard Aijha Blackwell and 6-foot-4 redshirt senior forward LaDazhia Williams each did their part in adding points to the board. 

However, with just 25 seconds to go in the third quarter Ramirez made a jumper and buzzer-beater 3-pointer that allowed Arkansas to regain the lead 62-58.

Missouri fell to Arkansas 88-71, but multiple Tigers had notable performances. 

Frank led the scoring with 21 points, including five 3-pointers and going 4/4 from the line, as well as 9 rebounds. Dembele contributed 17 points, a season-high, and finished with 2 assists and 2 steals. Williams added 11 points and five rebounds. Blackwell finished with 12 boards. 

Missouri was back in action on Thursday, Feb. 17 as they traveled to Athens to face off against the University of Georgia Bulldogs.
Edited by Riley Gearhart | rgearhart@themaneater.com