Derik McKinney
The 16th-ranked Missouri Tigers opened up its season with a 77-55 exhibition victory over Southwest Baptist University. The Tiger’s dominance on the boards, out-rebounding the Bearcats 46-28, perfectly illustrates how they handled this one with relative ease.
Lauren Aldridge set the tone for the Tigers, with a 3-pointer for the first points of the game, in her long awaited debut in the black and gold, after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer regulations.
The Tigers were lead in scoring by Jordan Frericks with 13 on the night. Frericks sat out last season after tearing her ACL. Coach Pingeton, to no surprise, was happy to see both Aldridge, and Frericks get on the court.
When asked about the two, she said she saw, “A lot of really good things from both of them.” Coach Pingeton also highlighted that she expects them both to “be a huge impact”on what the Tigers will do this year.
Junior Forward Cierra Porter, who lead the team in rebounds last year, put up a double double on the night with 10 points and 10 rebounds on 5-9 shooting. Junior Sophie Cunningham, the team’s leading scorer from last season, did not play the second half of the game, after taking a hard fall and appearing to hurt her wrist in the second quarter.
“She bruised her hand, in the Black and Gold game,” Coach Pingeton said. “I think she just re-aggravated it.”
Despite missing Cunningham for half of the game, the Tigers ran an effective full court trap on defense throughout the night, forcing SBU to shoot 33% from the field and 24% from three.
The Tigers have one more exhibition matchup against McKendree University next Monday at 7 p.m. before officially starting the season next Friday, November 10th, against Western Kentucky University in the Iowa Invitational.