COLUMBIA, Mo. – What started as a dream quickly became a nightmare for Missouri women’s basketball during Sunday’s matchup against No. 16 Oklahoma. After controlling the early stages of the game, The Tigers were quickly overwhelmed coming out of halftime, going on to lose in an 82-66 beatdown at the hands of the Sooners.

With Oklahoma’s addition to the SEC, the former Big 12 rivalry between the two teams was renewed, though the first matchup this season was anything but close. At Oklahoma, the Tigers suffered a one-sided loss at the hands of the Sooners’ second leading scorer Peyton Verhulst, who led her team with a career-high 38 points en route to victory.

Despite the result, Missouri came into Sunday with newfound momentum, riding high after a ten-point victory at Texas A&M, as well as close contests against Tennessee and Texas. The Tigers had been getting more out of sophomore guard Grace Slaughter and seemed to be poised for a solid contest at Mizzou Arena.

For the first half of the game, Missouri looked ready to win outright. The Tigers played an aggressive style of basketball, scoring 24 points in the paint and defensively keeping the Sooners out of system. In the second quarter, Missouri shot 10-11, scoring an impressive 29 points in arguably its best ten minutes as a team this season. Leading by four heading into the break, it seemed all was going right for the Tigers.

Then, the game shifted entirely. Missouri’s pace of play did not compare to that of the first half, and with that drop came the negative results. Offensively, Missouri was stifled, scoring 22 points the rest of the game. On defense it wasn’t much better, allowing Oklahoma to outrebound them by 13 and to keep them on the outside entirely. The final quarter proved to be more of a formality; at one point the Sooners led by as many as 20 points.

To the Tigers’ credit, in the last three minutes of the game they finally began to answer. Ashton Judd, who finished with the team high 13 points, started taking well-selected shots. Yet when the final buzzer sounded, the fact remained; Missouri had let go of an opportunity to score its first win against a ranked opponent since Feb. 27, 2022 when it beat Florida on the road.

With the loss against Oklahoma, Missouri fell to 2-10 in SEC play and 13-14 overall. Now only four games remain for Missouri to rebuild and refocus before what is sure to be a stacked SEC tournament in March.

On Feb. 20, Missouri returns to the hardwood and hosts No. 14 Kentucky.