Missouri women’s basketball’s season can be summed up with one phrase: “What if?”
During its matchup against Tennessee, Missouri was 60 seconds away from its fourth conference win, a winning conference record and a broken losing streak.
Instead, they fell to the Volunteers 68-65 in their fourth straight conference loss, leaving the team with a lot of questions:
What if senior guard Lauren Hansen had held on to the ball underneath the rim? What if Tennessee’s last second shot had missed? What if 3 points make the difference between a winning and losing record at the end of the season?
Head coach Robin Pingeton answered some of those questions to the media following the loss.
“We [have] to control what we can control,” she said. “There were some [missed] opportunities there [at the end of the game]. We didn’t have the sense of urgency that you need to have at the end of a game. Certainly disappointed, but proud of our girls. [I am] really excited about what’s in front of us.”
Pingeton emphasized the positive takeaways she had from the game, stating that despite the loss, she liked what she saw from her team.
“I think a lot of times when we’re not scoring, we get a little frustrated,” Pingeton said. “It impacts our defense, but I didn’t think that was the situation [against Tennessee]. The biggest thing is [that] we made some of the shots that we missed in the first quarter and we knocked them down in the third.”
“Defensively, we did what we needed to do,” she added. “It’s go big or go home. We knew that there were certain people that needed to be on that court, and we just had to be able to play through some of that foul trouble, but unfortunately [we] came up short … it’s supposed to hurt a little bit.”
The Tigers had a promising start in SEC play, earning three straight wins against Kentucky, Auburn and Alabama. In those games, Pingeton’s team proved capable of taking control when led by senior forward Hayley Frank, who combined for a team-high 52 points over the three-game stretch.
Frank did her thing once again against the Volunteers, adding another 26 points to her season total, but a floor-wide collapse for the Tigers late in the fourth led to an unfortunate defeat, marking the first time Frank has recorded 20 points or more in a loss this season.
Despite the loss, Frank remained positive, crediting her teammates for the success she found on the floor.
“I thought my teammates were willing screeners and trying to get me open looks,” Frank said. “[They were] hitting me at the right time, so big credit to them. I was just taking open shots, trying to do whatever I could to help us get the win … the assertiveness I had tonight I have to carry over into the next stretch.”
Another bright spot for Missouri was junior center Jayla Kelly’s performance — the junior tallying 14 points and nine rebounds in her best outing this season.
“I was just really trying to let the game come to me,” Kelly said. “I’ve been really trying to play with pace a lot this week at practice, so I just [transferred] that over to the game. I’ve been talking about being more aggressive rebounding, so I was just really intentional with that.”
Even with Frank and Kelly’s dominant performances, the pre-game sidelining of guard-duo Sara-Rose Smith and Mama Demebele factored into Missouri’s loss.
According to Pingeton, those absences created opportunities — roster gaps allowing players like Kelly and freshman guard Averi Kroenke a chance to shine.
“I’ve been liking a lot about Averi for a while now,” Pingeton said. “This was another opportunity with Mama down to get her some minutes and I thought she honestly had the best game she’s had since she’s been here.”
Frank added that trust is a big part of the team’s philosophy, regardless of the outcome on the court.
“We know what we have in that locker room,” Frank said. “Our confidence isn’t going to waver. It’s going to hurt, but that doesn’t mean our confidence is wavering. The message is to continue to show up with the heart that we played with today — the toughness, the grittiness [and] all the stuff that we pride ourselves on.”
As Missouri looks to regroup ahead of its next game against Georgia, perhaps the biggest “what if?” for them — an NCAA tournament berth — remains in question. To get there, the Tigers will first need to climb their way out of the bottom half of the SEC standings.
And Pingeton is determined to get there.
“The mission hasn’t changed,” she said. “That’s March 13. … We’ve got some opportunities in front of us — nobody that we can’t beat and nobody that can’t beat us — so we’ve got to maintain our focus. The only way to get to the other side is keep fighting through it, and I thought we made some big strides this week.”
Edited by Davis Wilson | dwilson@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com
