Sophie Cunningham scores on buzzer-beater to propel MU past No. 6 South Carolina

Her head-fake proved critical, but the poise even more so.

With the clock winding down in Sunday’s nail-biter against the No. 6 South Carolina, there was no doubt who Missouri was going to: Sophie Cunningham.

And with the score tied, the sophomore star scored on a scoop layup that propelled the Tigers to a signature 62-60 victory in front of 5,789 fans, the fifth-most in the history of Missouri women’s basketball games played at Mizzou Arena.

“I’m really proud of our players,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “I just thought they played with great poise, great resiliency, and I think they believed they could get this done tonight.”

Cunningham certainly believed MU (19-9, 9-5 SEC) could beat a top-10 team for the first time since last year’s 66-54 win over Mississippi State, especially prior to the last play that resulted in a team-tackling of Pingeton.

When Missouri senior guard Lianna Doty took a charge on South Carolina junior Kaela Davis with 23.6 seconds left, Cunningham wasn't shocked. The charge put the ball in the Tigers’ hands, and they put it in the basket.

The sequence also placed the Tigers in prime position for an NCAA Tournament birth.

Asked about the play afterward, Cunningham said: “It was a really, really, really cool play. … (Tackling coach Pingeton) was such an awesome feeling, and I’ve never experienced that before in my career.”

The entire afternoon was a really, really, really cool one for the Columbia native Cunningham and those dressed in pink to support the “Play 4 Kay” game.

After a so-so first half in which she scored six of her 26 points and Missouri trailed 30-26, Cunningham caught fire. Cunningham, the Southeastern Conference’s sixth-leading scorer, scored on a layup to open the second half and didn’t look back.

Well, Cunningham did take a look back to the bench midway in the third quarter as fans cheered.

Among the story lines that developed throughout the game was the injury Cunningham’s sister, Lindsey, suffered with 6 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter. MU senior Lindsey Cunningham collided with South Carolina junior A’Ja Wilson going for a rebound and took a blow to the head.

While clutching her forehead, Lindsey stumbled toward the bench and vomited on her way back to the locker room. Two minutes of game play later, Lindsey returned to the bench. Pingeton said Lindsey cleared concussion protocol, and that she wanted to return to the game.

At the 54-second mark, Lindsey did just that. But less than a minute later, the symptoms appeared to return, and Lindsey returned to the locker room for the duration of the contest.

In that span, Sophie said she made sure to think of her sister, as well as former Missouri Tiger Juanita Robinson, who was shot on Dec. 24.

“Juanita is just a special person,” Sophie Cunningham said. “She’s a tough soldier, and for her to be in the stands today, I said in the locker room before we went out — there’s a lot of alumni here but I think we should do this for Juanita. We have to win because she’s in the stands.”

With Robinson looking on, Cunningham scored two straight buckets to overcome what was once a 10-point Gamecocks lead in the third quarter. In 3:04, Missouri erased the deficit thanks to a 16-4 run.

A three-pointer by Missouri sophomore Cierra Porter — who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds — to open the final quarter furthered Missouri’s momentum.

Throughout the contest, Wilson often halted the Tigers’ success. The fourth quarter was no different.

Wilson, a 6-foot-5 preseason All-American, finished with 23 points and nine rebounds and starred in the fourth quarter.

As both teams traded buckets — there were 14 lead changes in the contest — Wilson and Cunningham went back and forth, yet the Tigers emerged victorious.

“They just got momentum,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “(It was) a good crowd. They stayed in it, they stayed engaged and it was a game of runs. Obviously, they answered our run.”

Missouri did so by outrebounding South Carolina (22-4, 12-2) 34 to 26 and holding the Gamecocks to just 12 of 40 shooting outside of Wilson.

Cunningham’s nine fourth-quarter points also didn't hurt.

“She’s mature beyond her years,” Pingeton said of Sophie, and then referenced this year's Feb. 5 loss at Mississippi State as a game that the team used as a reference point to get a victory like Sunday’s.

“From that point on, I feel like we’ve played with a lot more poise,” Pingeton said. “That’s been our theme all year. We really wanted to learn and get better from all of those (losses), and our team’s done a good job of that.

“And certainly, you gotta acknowledge what a special player Sophie is.”

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Sophie Cunningham scores on buzzer-beater to propel MU past No. 6 South Carolina."