Little Rock went six minutes and 28 seconds of the fourth quarter without scoring. By then, Missouri had already made sure it wouldn’t matter. Grace Slaughter scored 23 points, Natalya Hodge added 15 and the Tigers held the Trojans to 29.9% shooting in a 73-50 win Friday night.
The Trojans came in having scored 108 points in their opener. Missouri limited them to 50, held them to 1-of-11 from 3-point range and led for 31:48 of the 40 minutes, building a lead as large as 24. The Tigers also won the rebounding
battle 48-39, outscored Little Rock 36-30 in the paint and got 25 bench points to the Trojans’ 13.
Slaughter set the tone after a rough season opener against Howard, shooting 1-of-9 and scoring seven points. This time, she went 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-7 at the line, grabbed seven rebounds,and finished plus-23 in 32 minutes.
She had 14 of Mizzou’s 35 first-half points, then added nine more after the break. Her 23 pushed her career total to 1,489 points, moving her past Sandie Prophete (1985-89) for 11th on the program’s all-time scoring list.
Hodge, a freshman, matched her in plus-minus. She was 1-of-6 in the first half, then scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the second, including two 3-pointers. She finished with a career-high 15 points, up from four in her debut against Howard. Her 3-pointer with 42 seconds left produced the game’s biggest margin.
Defense was the through-line. Little Rock never scored more than 18 points in any period and had four assists on 20 made baskets. It turned 12 offensive rebounds into only nine second-chance points. Missouri finished with seven steals and four blocks, all from freshman Ellie Muller, who had as many blocks in 16 minutes as the entire team had in the opener.
Muller also added four points and four rebounds. McKenzie Mathurin, who scored 29 against Howard, had eight points and was plus-15. Khloe Ford went 4-of-4 for eight points and seven rebounds, and Tanyuel Welch had six points and two assists.
Freshman Cecilie Brandimore, who did not play against Howard, made her Mizzou debut and scored her first two points on a jumper with 1:40 left. Averi Kroenke, a Columbia native who missed last season with a lower-body injury, hit both of her free throws and had a steal in 12 minutes.
The game began as a stalemate. The first 10 minutes produced eight lead changes, three ties and a 13-13 score, and neither team led by more than three. Mizzou took control in the second period by stacking finishes at the rim on top of stops, outscoring Little Rock 22-13 and shooting 8-of-15. Mathurin’s 3-pointer 17 seconds in gave the Tigers a lead they never surrendered, and they went to halftime up 35-26.
The third period put the game out of reach. Missouri shot 60%, forced six turnovers and led by 15 after Hodge’s fast-break layup with 6:49 left. Muller’s layup with 2:08 remaining made it 58-38, the Tigers’ first 20-point lead, and Mizzou took a 60-44 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Little Rock managed just six points on 2-of-16 shooting down the stretch. Talia Kemp’s layup with 3:32 left snapped the drought, with Missouri already up 22. Kemp led the Trojans with 11 points but shot 4-of-14 with five turnovers. Brenna Burk and Mya Cotto combined for six points. Neso Anisiobi and Senoj Jones each scored 10, and Payton Futch added eight off the bench.
Mizzou’s night wasn’t spotless. Nevaeh Caffey went 1-of-7 from the field but grabbed nine rebounds in 26 minutes, and the Tigers committed 17 turnovers that Little Rock turned into 13 points.
Missouri shot 5-of-19 from 3-point range and still won by 23, moving to 2-0 after its first road test of the year. The Tigers return home Monday to face Tennessee Tech at 11 a.m. at Mizzou Arena.
