Mizzou women fall to Oral Roberts, 76-63
The Missouri Tigers started slow and were never able to claim the momentum in a 76-63 loss to the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.
The Tigers never led as their five-game winning streak came to an end Wednesday at Mizzou Arena in Mizzou’s final matchup before the Christmas break.
“Really, really disappointed, about as disappointed as I’ve been in a while,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “… Out of the gates, (Oral Roberts) was the aggressors, it seemed like we lacked some energy, lacked communication, grittiness.”
The Tigers made mistake after mistake early, committing eight turnovers in the first quarter as the Eagles jumped out to a 23-14 lead on the strength of five more total shots.
The Tigers tied the game four total times, with three of them coming at 2, 4 and 8 points, then Oral Roberts began to pull away.
The Golden Eagles put together a 12-0 run late in the first quarter to lead 20-8, but Ashton Judd connected on the first of her eight made shots, leading to 18 points, to end the run.
Then Tionna Herron added a jumper and Laniah Randle hit a layup, two of her team-high 21 points, to cut the lead to nine points at the end of the first quarter.
“Laniah can play both sides of the ball very effectively,” Pingeton said. “She’s got the ability to defend. She has the ability to play downhill. Even though people know she’s a driver, she’s still got the ability … I think she does a good job.”
The Tigers got back within three points as Randle scored the first six points out of the break, but Oral Roberts quickly extended back to an 8-point lead with 6:21 left before halftime.
A Judd jumper followed by a Hannah Linthacum putback brought the Tigers within 28-27 with 4:21 left, then a Randle jumper made it 30-29 Eagles with 2:57 remaining.
The Tigers stayed within a score, until the 1:25 mark when a Makyra Tramble 3, three of her game-high 24 points, put the Eagles up 36-31 at halftime.
“We had eight turnovers within the first quarter, those are just empty possessions, you dig yourself a hole,” Pingeton said. “We need to be better in those areas. I need to help our team be better in those areas and understand the importance of playing with pace and ball security.”
The Eagles quickly extended to a double-digit lead for the first time early in the third, then got as far as a 12-point lead after a Taleyah Jones layup, two of her 20 points, with 4:10 left.
Then the Tiger offense finally got working.
A Grace Slaughter layup, the only made field goal of the sophomore’s night, got the Tigers within 10, then a De’Myla Brown layup brought Mizzou within 50-42.
Randle added a layup, then Brown hit a 3 through a foul and made the free throw for a four-point play to bring Missouri within 51-49 with 1:28 left in the third.
Brown hit a free throw to make it 52-50, then Angelique Ngalakulondi grabbed a rebound and tossed an assist down court to Randle for a transition layup to tie the game at 52 with 8 seconds left in the third.
The Tigers finally had some momentum.
But Tramble answered with a 3 and after a review, was awarded a free throw for a four-point play at the buzzer to send the Eagles into the final break leading 56-52.
“Fought hard to come back and tie it up toward the end of that third and then fouled a 3-point shooter and they had a four-point swing on us,” Pingeton said. “I thought that really hurt our momentum … the energy seemed a little bit down after that play, which, you know, it’s already hard coming back from being down so much.”
With the momentum gone, the Tiger offense fell apart in the fourth.
Mizzou shot just 5-of-20 in the fourth, and 1-of-9 from 3, as the Eagles extended the lead back out to double-digits and built as far as a 15-point advantage with 1:42 left to play.
“I think it starts with just how we came out,” Judd said. “Coach touched on it last game, we just came out flat and that was an emphasis in the locker room coming out in this game. I just didn’t feel like we executed.”
Mizzou shot 27-of-63 (42.9 percent) from the field, 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from 3 and 6-of-8 (75 percent) at the free-throw line. It was the worst game of the season beyond the arc for Missouri.
The Tigers had just one assist to 10 turnovers in the first half, but ended the game with eight assists and 14 turnovers, while forcing 16 steals, led by Judd with four.
Randle added six rebounds and three steals to her 21 points, while Judd had 18 points, four boards and four steals.
Brown was the next leading scorer with nine points to go with three steals.
Missouri (10-4) is off for the holidays before returning to host Jackson State at 2 p.m. Dec. 29 for the final game of the non-conference schedule.
Hear directly from Robin Pingeton, Ashton Judd and Grace Slaughter
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