Braggin’ Rights is heading back to the Land of Lincoln.
Despite a dogged second-half effort from Mizzou women’s basketball, the Tigers fell to Illinois 70-62, snapping a five-game winning streak and dropping to 9-3 on the season.
Mizzou went ice-cold when the stakes were the highest. After pulling within two points of Illinois with just over two-and-a-half minutes left in regulation, the Tigers missed seven of eight shots from the field, bookending a night that started horrendously for the home team
in regard to shooting the rock.
MU missed 13 of its 16 field goal attempts in the first quarter. It took almost five minutes for the Tigers to score their first points of the game; it took nearly three more minutes to make a field goal, and they didn’t make a shot in a halfcourt set until there were 55 seconds left in the opening frame.
The early scoring struggles were a combination of Mizzou missing open shots and Illinois playing sound defense. A handful of MU’s halfcourt possessions featured the Tigers trying desperately to get open with screens and dribble-drives, but almost nothing was working.
Mizzou got back on track in the second quarter, as a 7-0 run cut the Illini lead to one. Chloe Sotell made a handful of hustle plays on the glass and on defense that helped keep MU afloat defensively. Mizzou was also able to stay within striking distance of Illinois in large part because of its perfect 8-of-8 mark from the free-throw line in the first half.
The Tigers committed eight turnovers in the second quarter after committing just one in the first quarter. Illinois also got into the paint with ease, as 10 of its 13 field goals in the quarter came from 2-point range.
It wasn’t until the third quarter that Mizzou found a stellar shooting groove. Grace Slaughter, who’d gone just 1-of-6 from the field in the first half, scored eight points in the third quarter. The Tigers shot 8-of-15 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Mizzou was its own worst enemy on Wednesday, committing 18 turnovers compared to just nine for Illinois. The Tigers won the rebound battle and hit double the number of 3-pointers as the Illini (eight to four), but MU’s turnover woes and inability to make shots down the stretch cost them what could’ve been a fantastic victory over a stellar Illinois squad.
Slaughter finished with 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Lisa Thompson shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, scoring 11 points. Sotell finished with a career-high nine rebounds.
Next up for Mizzou is Saint Louis at Chaifetz Arena on Sunday. The Tigers lost to the Billikens in their last trip to The Lou two seasons ago.
