The Kansas Jayhawks walloped Missouri women’s basketball on March 20 in the WNIT basketball tournament. The 75-47 defeat brought an end to a very up-and-down season from the Missouri Tigers. 

It was the end to an ultimately disappointing season for Missouri, as it failed to make the NCAA tournament. The last time Missouri made the NCAA tournament was in 2017-18, where it fell to Florida Gulf Coast in the first round. Missouri has now been eliminated in the WNIT tournament the past three seasons.

Kansas dominated this game from the tip-off as Missouri struggled to find an offensive rhythm. The Tigers were outscored 18-13 in the first quarter and trailed for the entirety. Missouri failed to take the lead, playing from behind the entire game.

The Tigers shot just 37.3% from the field in this game with an even worse 23.8% from the 3-point line. Kansas more than doubled the 3-point percentage of Missouri, shooting 50% in the game.

Another interesting note from Kansas was it relied heavily on its starters. The Jayhawk bench combined for zero points in the game. The starting five evenly distributed the ball as all five finished in double digits.

One of the only bright spots in this game came from senior forward Hayley Frank. Frank went off for 17 points while also snagging eight rebounds. Luckily for Missouri, Frank has announced that she will return for her fifth year next season.

The Jayhawks dominated the paint as they went off down low scoring 26 points in the paint. Kansas added another 20 points on the fast break as well. This came off of 16 Missouri turnovers, which killed the Tigers’ hopes of advancing.

Missouri finished the season 18-14, while going 6-10 in conference play — in a year that will help pave the future for Missouri. 

Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton was under fire all year, especially after missing out on the tournament. However, athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois announced that Pingeton will return next year. It has been made clear that things will need to change under Pingeton for her to extend her stay with Missouri after next year.

Edited by Davis Wilson | dwilson@themaneater.com

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