For nearly 35 minutes, Missouri trailed a mid-major opponent in its season opener.
Luckily for the Tigers, a college basketball game doesn’t end at 35 minutes. It lasts 40, plus five more if it comes to that, and Missouri needed all 45 to beat Howard 91-88 in front of 2,910 at Mizzou Arena.
The Tigers had no business being in it late. Trailing by as many as 19, and down 76-59 with 6:41 left in the fourth quarter, they ripped off an 18-2 run that cut it to a one-point game. Per ESPN’s win probability
meter, they had just a 0.3% chance to win. Someone forgot to tell Missouri that.
Freshman Natalya Hodge tied it at 82-82 on a putback with 36 seconds left, the first time the score had been level since the first quarter. Nevaeh Caffey, who scored seven of her 17 points in the fourth, including a three that made it a four-point game with 4:01 left, then took over in overtime.
“We’re going to compete to the very end, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to win,” Caffey said.
Overtime belonged to Missouri from the start. Caffey’s free throw at 4:06 gave the Tigers their first lead since 9-8 in the first quarter, and she added two layups to account for five of Missouri’s nine points in the extra period.
Howard kept answering, cutting it to 87-86 on a Destiny Bynum-Johnson jumper with 1:13 left and to 89-88 on a Jada Kendrick jumper with a second to play. But Tanyuel Welch, who went 4-of-5 at the line in overtime, calmly made two more at the buzzer to close it out. Missouri shot just 2-of-8 from the floor in overtime but went 5-of-9 at the stripe, while Howard never attempted a free throw.
It took an unorthodox group to finish it. Coach Harper went with a small lineup, and Caffey, Hodge, Khloe Ford, Welch and McKenzie Mathurin played the final 12:20 without a substitution, outscoring Howard 34-14. Harper said the group hadn’t practiced together. Once it got going, she wasn’t going to break it up.
“You start making that comeback, and the rim gets a little bit smaller on the other end for Howard,” Harper said. Howard shot 5-of-17 in the fourth.
The odd woman out was starting guard Grace Slaughter, who finished with seven points on 1-of-9 shooting and sat from the 8:04 mark of the fourth quarter on.
“It was a tough night,” Harper said of Slaughter. “We were having a hard time getting her good looks and good opportunities, so we wanted to look elsewhere, and elsewhere worked tonight.”
The ones who stayed on the floor delivered. Mathurin led all scorers with 29 points on 8-of-21 shooting and hit 9 of 13 at the line. Ford had 15 points and 15 rebounds, eight of them offensive, in her first collegiate game.
“She’s exactly what we need,” Harper said of Ford. “She does not act like a freshman. She does not play like a freshman. She still made a few freshman mistakes, but she plays with such composure. She’s calling for the ball, demanding the ball in her first college game in an overtime situation.”
As a team, Missouri shot just 37.2% from the field, but made 27 of 42 free throws to Howard’s 15 of 24, won the offensive glass 24-16 and outscored Howard 23-9 on the fast break.
None of it looked likely early. Howard used a 14-0 run in the first quarter to take a 20-9 lead, and the Tigers committed 11 first-half turnovers before going to the break down 38-33.
“We were forcing the issue a few times,” Harper said. “A lot of that was our impatience, trying to make something happen that wasn’t there.”
Mathurin was the lone bright spot, with a team-high 11 first-half points.
“I think Kenzie’s just an aggressive player,” Harper said. “I think she plays her best when she’s aggressive.”
The second half started no better. Howard led 69-52 after a third quarter in which Missouri scored just 19 points. Missouri turned it around, Mathurin said, by finding its edge.
“I think we just needed more intensity starting out, but once we cranked it up and we got them on their heels, we just kept fighting and fighting,” Mathurin said. “We just needed to find what it took to get them on their heels, and we found that.”
The Tigers won the fourth 30-13, getting to the line 18 times and forcing five Howard turnovers. In the huddle, the message was simple.
“We just told each other keep fighting,” Caffey said. “Keep working. Don’t let them outwork us.”
With the win, Missouri improves to 1-0 and will look to carry that momentum into its first road test Friday at Little Rock.
