Scoring droughts doom Mizzou in physical battle with Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KMIZ)
A pair of lengthy scoring droughts made the difference on Sunday afternoon as Mizzou Women's Basketball fell to Kentucky 76-71 on the road, snapping its two-game SEC winning streak.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with Mizzou women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton in the video player below.
Mizzou also encountered plenty of foul trouble in Lexington. The Tigers committed 24 fouls in the game and four different players fouled out in a very physical battle.
After Kentucky took an early 3-0 lead, Mizzou quickly grabbed its first lead of the game. The Tigers scored seven points on their first three possessions, courtesy of two buckets from Grace Slaughter and a steal and score from Mama Dembele. Fueled by an early 11-2 scoring run, Pingeton's crew held the lead for the rest of the opening quarter.
However, Kentucky took advantage of a Mizzou scoring drought to take the lead. The Wildcats began the second quarter with a 14-3 scoring run, capped off by a fastbreak layup by Ajae Petty that gave Kentucky a 30-23 advantage midway through the second quarter. The home team held Mizzou without a field goal for nearly six minutes during its scoring run.
The Tigers trailed Kentucky by six points at the break but did make it a one-possession game on multiple occasions in the third quarter. However, Mizzou was unable to break through to retake the lead, and Kentucky started to pull away in the final quarter. The Wildcats used a 10-3 scoring run to take a 10-point lead. Similar to the second quarter, Mizzou scored just one field goal during a stretch of more than five minutes in the final quarter.
Pingeton's group started to rally down the stretch. The Tigers strung together a 9-0 scoring run to tie the game 71-71 with 1:15 to play. However, Eniya Russell knocked down a contested jump shot for Kentucky on its next possession to retake the lead. Mizzou was unable to get another shot to fall, and the Wildcats hit some free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.
Hayley Frank finished as the game's leading scorer, posting 24 points on 50% shooting. This was the second straight game that Frank dropped 20 or more points.
True freshman Grace Slaughter was the only other Tiger to score in double figures, finishing with 13 points and hitting 50% of her shots.
As a team, Mizzou shot 42.6% from the field but only made 27.3% of its three-pointers. Kentucky also took advantage of 16 Tiger turnovers and turned them into 16 points in this contest.
Up next - The Tigers are returning to Mizzou Arena for a two-game homestand. Mizzou will welcome Texas A&M to town on Thursday, Jan. 25 with tipoff scheduled for 8 p.m.
