Coaches will say there is no such thing as an ugly win, especially when a milestone is achieved. However, Missouri’s 56-45 victory over Loyola was not exactly the prettiest win during head coach Robin Pingeton’s tenure.
Sophomore Jordan Frericks dominated both ends of the floor, posting her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Also contributing for the Tigers were Maddie Stock (12 points) and Juanita Robinson (10 points). Stock’s scoring all came courtesy of the trey, where she was 4-7 from distance.
The win marked the 400^th of Pingeton’s coaching career, which includes jobs at NAIA St. Ambrose and Illinois State.
Missouri shot just 31 percent from the field (18-58) and 29.2 percent from beyond the arc (7-24). Sharpshooter Morgan Eye was held scoreless in an unusually off night. A threat from the three-point line on any night, she missed all five of her attempts.
As sloppy as the Missouri offense was though, the Tigers were solid on defense. Mizzou had 12 steals and forced the Ramblers into 22 turnovers. Loyola was just 3-18 on three-pointers.
After entering the first media timeout trailing 3-2, the Tigers put together a 16-8 run, highlighted by three-pointers from Stock and Lindsey Cunningham.
Missouri went into the halftime break with a 25-20 lead, but then raced out to a 46-28 lead over the first 10 minutes of the second frame. From there, the Tigers kept the Ramblers at bay and closed out the 11-point victory.
Missouri improves to 5-1, and hits the road to take on Bradley on Saturday at 2 p.m.