COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri women’s basketball returned to the win column as they exploited an immense size advantage in the paint in their 83-72 win over the North Alabama University Lions. The Tigers had 50 of their 83 points in the paint.
Missouri made no changes to the starting lineup that lost on Sunday in St. Louis and size was an obvious advantage early in the game. Pingeton clearly made it a point of emphasis to attack the painted area.
To start the game, North Alabama utilized the speed of the guards to create some great opportunities in transition. Guards Alexis Callins and Alyssa Cutler got up the floor with lightning speed.While lay-up opportunities got the Lions on the scoresheet, their inability to make open 3-point shots in the 1st quarter was a major issue. Missouri responded by moving into a match-up zone, which put a lot of pressure on the Lions to make some open looks.Pingeton said that the Lions guards were “so hard to chase”, which was part of the decision to switch to a match-up zone.
The second quarter featured Grace Slaughter and Hayley Frank feasting inside the paint. The Lions had only one player over 6 ‘0, and attacking their lack of height was clearly an emphasis as the Tigers finished with 22 points in the paint in the first half.
Mizzou’s length really started to come into play with their zone defense.The pressure forced the visitors into 13 turnovers across the opening frame. Mama Dembele had an indelible impact with her quickness on both ends of the floor. The Spanish guard finished the game with ten steals, along with eight points and three rebounds.She guided the Tigers into the locker room with a 40-30 advantage.
If the Lions thought that Dembele would give them any reprieve in the second half, they were very wrong. Dembele continued to harass the North Alabama offense.
Missouri caught a turnover bug of their own as they gave the ball away an astonishing 23 times over the course of the game. Turnovers have plagued this team so far this year.
The Lions were pesky all night as they turned Missouri over and found some production on the offensive end to prevent Missouri from running away with the game. However, production from Frank in the paint helped the Tigers walk away with a 83-72 victory. The lead never ballooned into the 20s but never fell below nine.
A lot of questions still remain about this Missouri team, but they put together a much better defensive performance than they did against SLU. The offense continues to be a lot more balanced than it was a year ago, and if Missouri can establish some consistency on the defensive end, they could undoubtedly make a splash this year.
The glaring issue with this team was, once again, its propensity to turn the ball over.
“It’s a marathon not a sprint. We want to lead the country in improvement,” Missouri Head Coach Pingeton said.
Missouri improves to 3-1 on the season, and they will welcome the Screamin’ Eagles of Southern Indiana to Mizzou Arena next Monday. North Alabama falls to 1-2 on the young season, and they will host the Eagles of Southern Miss on Saturday.