COLUMBIA, Mo.- The Missouri women’s basketball team found themselves in a rock fight against Arkansas from the opening tip. Despite the multiple lead changes in the Tigers’ favor, the Razorbacks managed to pull away in the fourth quarter to pick up a 67-58 victory over Missouri on Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena.
“They were able to knock down shots when we weren’t,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “I thought they had some big shots that were momentum changers- we’d get a stop but then we’d miss and they’d come back down and hit a big shot.”
Missouri (12-19, 3-5 SEC) was coming off a tight two point defeat against the Texas A&M Aggies. This contest seemed similar to their last outing, with continuous back and forth scoring battle, multiple lead changes, but didn’t have as dramatic of an ending.
The main theme in the contest was the consistency of shots and accuracy from 3-point range. By the end of the first half, both teams attempted a combined 25 shots from beyond the arch. The Tigers and Razorbacks were both either over or near fifty percent shooting in this category.
That trend didn’t let up much in the third quarter. The teams traded leads back and forth, as 5 3-pointers rippled through the net. It was only fitting that the quarter ended on a second chance triple from Arkansas’ Jenna Lawrence.
After Lawrence’s 3-point shot, Missouri entered the fourth quarter trailing 49-48. Then, multiple scoring droughts and the Razorbacks’ consistent scoring pushed Missouri’s chances of taking the border rivalry contest into jeopardy.
The key scorer for the Razorbacks who fit the bill of this scoring style perfectly was guard Saylor Poffenbarger who highlighted the game with 24 points and was nearly unstoppable shooting wise. Poffenbarger went 8-9 from three-point range and 8-11 from field goal range.
Meanwhile, Hayley Frank finished in double digits for the Tigers, and Ashton Judd finished top of the scoring column with 21 for the Tigers, including two 3-pointers.
“I thought she (Judd) played with physicality and confidence and was really aggressive offensively,” Pingeton said. “I would credit her on mentally staying the course and continuing to fight through a little bit of a stretch recently where she wasn’t shooting the ball super well.”
Frank went up against Saylor Poffenberger, the Razorbacks’ top scorer this season, and the two traded points back and forth throughout. The matchup ended with a dust up between the two but neither Arkansas or Missouri had too much to say about it after the game.
“It was just two competitive players in the middle of the game,” Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors said. “Saylor and Frank have played each other a lot the past couple seasons so that will happen.”
“There was nothing really there,” Frank said. “Her defense of not leaving me was tough, but I tried to be the best screener I could to create for other people.”
This game marked a third straight conference defeat for the Tigers and a second straight loss in Columbia. All three of the defeats have been by single digit deficits.
Missouri will look to bounce back when they travel to Knoxville and take on the Tennessee Volunteers on February 4 at 7:00 p.m.