Mizzou falls short of upset over No. 18 Tennessee
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mizzou Women's Basketball kept pace with back-to-back ranked opponents but could not secure their second SEC win of the 2024-25 season.
Despite a fourth quarter rally, the Tigers (12-12) suffered a narrow defeat to No. 18 Tennessee (16-5) 76-71 at home. Sunday's loss extended MU's losing streak to eight of its last nine contests.
You can watch the full postgame press conference with head coach Robin Pingeton, De'Myla Brown and Ashton Judd in the slideshow above.
MU brought the energy to Mizzou Arena at tipoff. Ashton Judd capped off a string of seven straight points for the Tigers to start the game, forcing Tennessee to call timeout. The Volunteers did not connect on a field goal for the first five minutes of the contest.
Mizzou led by as many as 12 points in the opening quarter, but Tennessee shrunk that advantage down to 22-20 to close out the first 10 minutes of play. The Volunteers rallied back using a 10-3 scoring run, featuring a pair of three-pointers from Talaysia Cooper.
The Tigers held off head coach Kim Caldwell's crew for most of the second quarter but the Volunteers unleashed intense full court pressure that MU could not break. Mizzou committed four 10-second violations in the first half, allowing Tennessee to close the gap by taking its first lead from the charity stripe at the 2:56-mark of the second quarter.
After Grace Slaughter buried a jump shot to tie the game 33-33 at halftime, neither team was able to manufacture a lead larger than two-possessions until the final two minutes of the third quarter. The Volunteers ignited a 9-0 scoring run, which ended with a Tennessee steal-and-score, to grab a nine-point lead with about one minute before the third quarter buzzer.
MU cut UT's lead down to one-possession twice in the fourth quarter, including with a layup from Slaughter with 0:56 left on the clock. However, the Tigers could not complete the comeback, losing their eighth game of league action.
Turnovers proved costly for Coach Pingeton's group. Mizzou turned the ball over 24 times, its second-worst total of the season, and Tennessee turned those takeaways into 20 points.
However, the box score did yield some bright spots for the Tigers. MU out-rebounded Tennessee, who's the No. 17-ranked team in the nation in that category, and Mizzou also finished with a much higher field goal percentage than the Volunteers, hitting 45% of their attempts from the floor.
Brown posted a season-best 18 points while Slaughter (16), Judd (13) and Laniah Randle (10) each scored in double figures. Randle also recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Additionally, Slaughter and Judd both shot more than 50% from the field.
Up next - Mizzou ends its two-game homestand with a third consecutive ranked opponent. The Tigers will host No. 7 LSU (23-1) on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
