Mizzou women’s basketball defeats Mississippi State, keeps NCAA Tournament hopes alive
The Missouri women’s basketball team entered Sunday’s game against Mississippi State with its season on the line.
When the Tigers upset No. 1 South Carolina in the first game of SEC play on Dec. 31, they seemed poised to have their best year in recent memory. But since then, they lost eight of 12 games, including their last four, and were on the verge of falling to the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Determined not to let that happen, Missouri regained its footing and secured a much-needed 76-66 victory over Mississippi State at Mizzou Arena to keep its March Madness hopes alive.
“We always talk about it, (losing) reveals your true character in how you’re going to show up and respond,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “It’s really, really hard — really hard — when you face adversity. And so, I’m proud of these guys for the way they’ve been able to respond ... It hasn’t been easy, but they’ve been resilient, they’ve fought through it. And a really good win for us against a really good team.”
The Tigers (17-10, 6-8 SEC) made 11 three-pointers on 50% shooting from beyond the arc — their best mark of any game this month. The Bulldogs (15-11, 6-8) made six.
Forward Hayley Frank led Mizzou with 19 points, followed by 16 points from guard Haley Troup. Star Aijha Blackwell had 14 points and 18 rebounds for her 19th double-double of the season.
Missouri led by 11 points in the second quarter after a hot start on offense, but Mississippi State went on an 11-2 run over the last four minutes and nearly wiped away the advantage. The Tigers were up just 34-32 at halftime.
“It’s gonna be a game of runs,” Pingeton said. “You gotta weather storms, you gotta stay aggressive, you gotta have an attack mindset. And to be really, really honest with you, today was not about Mississippi State. Today was about this locker room and these girls and us kind of getting out of our own way.”
The third quarter was sluggish for both sides on offense, but Mizzou eventually got back into a groove and was up 51-42 entering the final frame.
Once again though, the Tigers allowed the Bulldogs back into the game. With about 6 minutes left, the score was notched at 55-55.
“That was a big timeout for our girls to really rally around each other,” Pingeton said. “You go into the huddle and there’s constant conversation going on, so as a coach you feel really good about that versus when everything’s stone cold quiet. And they were talking each other through it and just building each other up.”
Blackwell, who didn’t play last game due to what Pingeton explained as not meeting team standards, was the one to get Missouri going. She drained a three-pointer to jump start a quick 8-0 run for the Tigers and create some breathing room down the stretch.
“That was huge,” Frank said of Blackwell’s triple. “I mean, just a huge confidence boost I think for everyone. Just got the crowd going, got the energy back up. It was a big time shot.”
Mizzou made each of its last four shots from the field and all eight attempts from the free-throw line to seal the crucial victory.
“I think what I’m most proud of today is there was stretches again where our offense wasn’t really flowing, but we did a lot better job of taking pride in our defense and getting stops during those runs,” Frank said. “We just found a way every single time no matter what it was. ... We played off each other and played really hard together today.”
The Tigers were projected as a 10-seed in the latest bracketology from ESPN’s Charlie Creme prior to Sunday’s game. The win over Mississippi State should keep them from sliding further down the seed line.
“We’re just trying to stay the course,” Blackwell said. “Stay focused game by game and just not get ahead of ourselves. Just making sure we just stay together throughout these games so we can end up where we want to.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 4:36 PM.
