Mizzou falls to Florida in first round of SEC Tournament

GREENVILLE, S.C. (KMIZ)

The Mizzou Women's Basketball season ends in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Robin Pingeton's crew lost to Florida 66-60 on Wednesday afternoon, despite a third quarter rally.

After leading for the majority of the first quarter, Mizzou allowed Florida to string together a 16-0 scoring run to start the second quarter, eventually leading to a 16-point halftime deficit. The Gators grabbed their biggest lead of the game when Aliyah Matharu hit one of her two free throws at the 6:22-mark of the third quarter to put Florida on top by 20 points. However, right after that, Mizzou responded with a 14-0 scoring run to cut that deficit down to 48-42. The Tigers pulled within three points of tying the game in the final quarter but were unable to close the gap.

Ashton Judd finished with a game-high 17 points. True freshman Grace Slaughter was the only other Tiger to score in double figures, ending the contest with 14 points. Mama Dembele was also a key contributor on both sides of the ball, scoring eight points, grabbing five rebounds and posting seven assists and four steals.

While Mizzou finished with a higher three-point percentage than Florida, the Gators hit 43% of their total shots from the field while the Tigers recorded only a 35% field goal percentage.

Robin Pingeton's crew ended the 2023-2024 season with an 11-19 overall record and won just two of their 14 conference games in the regular season. Mizzou enters the offseason on a 12-game losing skid.