After rough start, Mizzou women’s basketball hopes to have turned the corner
Missouri Tigers guard Aijha Blackwell — in an attempt to bypass Mississippi State’s full-court press — threw her inbound pass off an unsuspecting Bulldogs defender’s back. The play worked perfectly, the ball bouncing to Blackwell as she sprinted across Norm Stewart Court for an end-to-end layup.
It was a nifty play … but one that only brought the Tigers within 14 points during a blowout defeat Thursday night.
It’s been a trying season for Mizzou coach Robin Pingeton’s women’s basketball team. The Tigers fell to 4-12, 1-2 in the SEC, after a 79-64 loss to the No. 13-ranked Bulldogs at Mizzou Arena.
It was the latest in a season full of losses.
“A little bit of everything,” Pingeton said of the Tigers’ struggles. “That’s the hardest part: you can’t put your finger on one thing with this team. I think that’s the most challenging part of it.”
While Pingeton stressed that 2019-20 didn’t look to be a rebuilding year before the season started, replacing a legend like Sophie Cunningham, Mizzou’s all-time leading scorer, has proven difficult.
Pingeton and her Tigers hope they turned a corner after the Christmas break, which lasted about a week. Pingeton noted that her players are practicing harder and with renewed urgency. They’re “starting to understand that you win games in practice,” the coach said.
Instead of focusing on their 3-10 nonconference record, they turned their attention to what was a blank slate.
“We’ve been through a lot as a team, but it’s made us stronger,” MU forward Hannah Schuchts said. “You can finally start to see that start to come together on the court after Christmas break.”
It’s been three games since the break now. The Tigers are 1-2 through their opening SEC games, both losses coming against ranked opponents, in Tennessee and Mississippi State. Missouri’s win over LSU snapped a five-game losing streak.
And there were positives in those games. After falling behind by double digits on the road at Tennessee, the Tigers built a comeback that fell short near the end of the game. After 18 first-half turnovers buried them in a 22-point hole at halftime, they outscored Mississippi State in the second half.
And after building a big lead against LSU, Mizzou held on as the squad from Baton Rouge rallied. The result: MU’s first SEC win of the season.
“It was a lot of tough conversations that we were having,” Blackwell said, “a lot going on in practice. Just a lot of different learning aspects to gather within ourselves. We just kept pushing forward and I think we’ve got it together.”
It’s been a blend of old and new for Mizzou this season. Against the Bulldogs, the Tigers started four seniors and one freshman — the former five-star recruit in Blackwell. While Amber Smith tops the team with 13.3 points per game, the Tigers’ next two leading scorers are freshman Hayley Frank and Blackwell.
Pingeton said Cunningham’s impact was apparent on and off the court. Her leadership qualities made it easier to fall in line behind her. While that construct certainly worked very well during its time— the Tigers made the NCAA Tournament every season during Cunningham’s career in Columbia — her departure has definitely left a void.
No longer can this year’s seniors simply serve as dutiful role players; now, they’re leaned on for production and leadership. And that’s not always an easy transition to make.
“Our seniors have been phenomenal for this program, but they’re in a completely different role than they’ve ever been,” Pingeton said. “When you rely so heavily on a voice like Sophie’s, the feel, the intensity, the competitive spirit that she brought to every single huddle, whether it was at practice or games, that’s a hard thing to replace.”
Meanwhile, Blackwell, while a promising talent, averages 11.9 points per game, third on the team. But she also turns the ball over 4.1 times per game.
The Tigers’ nonconference schedule was a beast, one Pingeton admitted was “probably a little bit on the tougher side for where we’re at.” The Tigers played and lost to ranked teams in Princeton, Missouri State and South Dakota, while also scheduling power conference teams like Illinois, Nebraska and North Carolina. Losing streaks of four and five games affected Mizzou’s morale.
The schedule doesn’t get much easier now. Five of the Tigers’ next six games are against ranked SEC opponents. Pingeton is just hoping her team can generate some positive vibes.
“We just take it one day at a time and try and get better and still find a way to get something done this season that shows up in the record books, where people can be proud of us,” Pingeton said. “We have a lot of work to do and we’ve got to keep working and plugging away.”