Mizzou women come back from 19-point deficit to beat Howard in overtime
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou women's basketball opened up the season in dramatic fashion, on Monday, completing a comeback over Howard to win 91-88 in overtime.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with head coach Kellie Harper and players in the video player below.
With the win, the Tigers start the season 1-0. However, it was anything but easy.
The Bison took the lead over the Tigers in the first quarter and never let it go, as an 11-0 run in the opening 10 minutes gave head coach Ty Grace and her squad plenty of breathing room.
Down 20-9 with a lot of work to do, MU did manage to cut it back to a five-point game at halftime, thanks to 11 first half points from transfer guard McKenzie Mathurin, as well as 12 combined points from forward Khloe Ford and guard Tanyuel Welch.
However, the momentum that head coach Kellie Harper's group managed to find going into halftime, took a dip out of the locker room. Howard managed to go up by 19 points in the second half, but Mizzou never quit.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers managed to flip a switch - turning to a full-court press, forcing turnovers and hitting shots - to go on a 15-0 run to cut the deficit back down to just a one-point game.
That effort was led by a tremendous night for both transfer guard McKenzie Mathurin and freshman forward Khloe Forward. That duo combined for 28 second-half points, but it was a player that had flown under the radar that ended up tying the game. Freshman Natayla Hodge sunk just her second-made shot of the night with less than one minute to go to knot the game up at 82.
Mizzou had a chance to win the game with seconds to go, but the lay up from Nevaeh Caffey was off the mark, so the game went into overtime.
And early on in that overtime period, Coach Harper's team took their first lead since the opening minutes of the first quarter. It only took nine points to get the job done in extra minutes, as Mizzou completed the miraculous comeback.
Mathurin led the team in scoring with 29 points in her Tiger debut. Three other Tigers got into double-digit scoring, along with her. Transfer guard Nevaeh Caffey scored 17, including some clutch shots in overtime, Ford ended with 15 and Welch scored 14.
In the second half, Coach Harper's team turned up the pressure, forcing Howard to turn the ball over seven times and scoring eight points off of those miscues.
Up next - Mizzou will hit the road to face Little Rock on Friday, Nov. 6. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m.
